The Animal House
by observaant- not mean
Summary: In a cloud of smoke the 3 animals switched back into human males. Naked males.“Ahhh!”Hinata shrieked covering her eyes, embarrassed.She opened her eyes again to see Kakashi, Naruto & Sasuke fully dressed.sasuhina & naruhina based loosely on Fruits Basket
1. KFC : Kakashi freakin' chicken

**The first chapter is now edited!- Less grammatical errors. **

Odd idea popped in my head as I was watching Fruits Basket. I've only seen a few eppies and read some of the manga. **It's the first time I've ever written a Naruto fic. **

**Naruto based on the anime Fruits Basket!**

Sorry if some of the characters are a bit OCC.

Some side notes for everyone: I'm Asian, so sorry to say I had to change the Chinese zodiac myth a bit. The CAT is supposed to be the outcast in the myth, well... the FOX is replacing the Cat. Naruto turns into the FOX when he is under stress or is hugged by the opposite sex.

Yes I have changed Hinata's last name back to Hyuuga instead of Hyuga.

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The Animal House

**_Chapter One_**

"**K.F.C. : Kakashi freakin' chicken"**

It might have been odd to see a black- blue haired girl crawl out of a purple tent, in the middle of November. But it had been Hinata Hyuuga's new 'home' for the past four days. It might not have been the best sleeping arrangement, yet she was proud for setting up the tent all by herself. She would find a solution to her problem sooner or later.

_Another day_, she thought peering up to the grey sky.

Hinata quickly ran her fingers though her cropped black hair; there wasn't any time for her to comb it. Feeling a sneeze coming she grabbed a Kleenex from her bag and _ach-oo_!

It had rained last night and sleeping in a tent wasn't the best shelter against Mother Nature, so it couldn't be helped that she was feeling a bit sick.

Hinata walked through the dense forest. She observed certain plants and the bark of trees, carefully maneuvering through the foliage. Five minutes later, the grass was more barren to reveal a path. Walking, she passed the grand home. Hinata had seen the house for the past four days when she was cutting through the 'lawn' to get to school. She always wondered who would live so remotely, and by themselves.

Admiring the ancient house, her pearly eyes glanced at something glinting in the weak sun. On the front porch, something caught her eye. Curious, she waded through the thick bushes and tall grass to see the object. Hinata climbed the porch.

'_It's so cute'_, she thought. A knife was laid beside twelve craved figurines of the creatures of the Chinese Zodiac. Hinata carefully kneeled down to inspect the objects. The rat, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the sheep, the rooster, the dog, the pig, and the monkey. They were so tiny and so chibi! But another animal was missing, an instead was the...

"Yo," a deep voice cheerily greeted her.

Hinata slowly looked up, blushing sheepishly. She was caught trespassing on someone else's property.

The man wore a mask that covered his right eye, his mouth and his nose. All that was revealed of his face was his left dark brown eye. From what Hinata could make out, he was young; most likely in his mid twenties and he had gravity-defying silver spiky hair. He was dressed in what appeared to be army fatigues and wore a white shirt.

"So, I assume you like my pieces of art?" he drawled.

"Err... yes, they're pretty." Quickly standing up to her feet, she bowed. "I'm so so so so so sorry! Please forgive me for my rudeness. I-I-I noiiiitticed a-"

She winced. She hated when she stuttered so much.

"Hey I don't mind. I'm Kakashi Hatake," he casually said, shrugging his broad shoulders.

"Well, I'm Hinata Hyuuga. Nii-cee to meet you." She had the instinct to bow or curtsey to him. Her father taught her to respect her elders. But he wasn't here right now, and Kakashi didn't seem like a formal person. Relaxing a bit, she asked him, "How come you didn't carve the Cat?"

"The cat?" Kakashi asked, raising his brow. "Oh, you mean from the fable of the Chinese zodiac... You know, some people say that it wasn't the cat that was tricked by the devious rat. It was the fox who didn't make it to the banquet. He was too much of a trickster so he was banned."

"The fox?" Hinata asked, her eyebrows scrunched. Okay, she was naïve but Kakashi had to be joking. She had never heard of this version of the myth before from her mother or from anyone else.

"Yep." He nodded. Hinata couldn't be sure if he was teasing her or not.

"Okay." Hinata said sounding doubtful. Unexpectedly, the front door was flung open by someone who looked very familiar. He stepped out frowning at her.

"Who the _hell_?"

"Sasuke, aren't you grumpy this morning. Play nice to Hinata."

Hinata stood there like an idiot, mouth wide open. "Sasuke Uchiha?"

Sasuke attended the same private school that Hinata went to. He was popular and adored by most of the female population (and also some of the males at the school). His dark good looks even got him his own personal fan club. Basically being in his class for most of middle school and in her homeroom classes, she never tried to talk to him and he ignored her like everyone else did... So she was shocked to see him there, two feet away from her. It wasn't that she had a crush on him; there was something about him that was untouchable. And that made him_ a bit scary _to herShe preferred to be around people that didn't make her so uncomfortable, like her friends.

He shot her a glare. "No, I'm the bogeyman," he said, sarcastically. "What are you doing here, Hyuuga?"

"I sort of live nearby and I saw Mr. Kakashi's cute little carvings," she defensively said. Sasuke's presence screamed 'leave me the hell alone' and she felt agitated around him.

"Really?" Kakashi asked, looking around. "I didn't know I had neighbors. Don't call me Mister. It makes me feel _so old_."

Hinata gave a nervous laugh. Desperate to change the subject, she glanced at the expensive diamond watch strapped to her wrist. "Oh wow, look at the time. I have to get to school before I'm late. It was nice meeting you Mr. Kakashi."

"Yeah, I got school." Sasuke mumbled. They were about to both leave.

"Wait, you two. Sasuke goes to the same school as Hinata. Walk together. There are weirdos lurking in the forest," Kakashi suggested. There seemed to be a mischievous glint in his eye that wasn't covered.

"Hn."

"Nooo... that's ok!"

Kakashi and Sasuke turned to glance at her surprised. She blushed, wildly waving her hands. "I'm sure you have to get to school and don't have time to walk with someone as slow as me."

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. "We're going the same way anyways."

"Umm... Ok then. Hmmm... Bye Mr. Kakashi!"

"Bye Miss Hinata! Sasuke, don't forget about the special guest coming later this afternoon."

"I won't." he mumbled.

* * *

It felt like an eternity before Hinata and Sasuke made it to school. She sighed, relieved to see the school building. It had been twenty slow torturous minutes for her. It was awkward, and nothing came to her mind for small talk to relieve the uncomfortable silence .She opened her mouth a few times to try to say something. Hinata didn't say anything to Sasuke. And he didn't say anything to her either. 

She had been unsure how to pace herself. He had slowly strolled, while Hinata had the impulse to sprint to school since the bell was going to ring soon. She had never been late and she was proud of her perfect attendance.

At the front of the school stood many of Sasuke's fan girls/stalkers waiting for Sasuke. Despite being in the same homeroom, Hinata just couldn't wait anymore.

"Ok bye!" then she hurried to make it to school on time. She rushed past the girls and ran inside the building.

Hinata mentally cheered herself that she made it to school in record time, thirty seconds before the bell rang. Huffing and puffing, her cheeks were pinks from the running. She grinned and waved to her best friend Tenten and Shino, before seating herself beside her friends.

* * *

Tenten gave Hinata an odd look, waving. She overheard the Sasuke stalkers waiting by the windows that the 'great Sasuke' was seen walking with Hinata of all people. She must have heard wrong. Tenten should have known better than to listen to idiotic gossip. No way would Hinata be able to walk with him; she would have most likely fainted from the stress. 

Shino Aburame was seated in the desk beside her, and greeted Hinata with a nod of his head. The bug lover wasn't much of a talker.

"I can't believe that you were almost late, Hinata." Tenten teased her.

Hinata's cheeks were still pink, "Yee-ahh, there was a ...slight detour when I was walking to school."

She noticed the grey eyed girl looked paler than usual. And her cough sounded nasty. Concerned for her friend, she asked her," You okay?"

"Of course. It was raining last night and I didn't wear an extra sweater to sleep in."

"Alright... Feel better. Take lots of meds."

Tenten's sixth sense told her that Hinata was lying about something. But she wasn't going to push information from the poor girl. Hinata would eventually tell her best friend the problem. There was also something going on between Neji and Hinata. This morning, when Tenten came early to school for sparring practice, Neji was there in the gym already. He asked her about how Hinata was going. Neji never asked about her.

One day she'll ask Hinata for the truth between them.

* * *

Sasuke waited for Hinata Hyuuga to come out of her last period class. Through some causal questioning, he found out she had some sewing class last period. 

He ignored the other students giving him curious glances as they passed him. He was getting impatient. '_What the hell was the girl doing?'_ Sasuke peered into the class room. The girl was chatting with the teacher. What was wrong with her... who would in their right mind talk with the _teacher_?

He stood by the chalkboard, silently waiting to be acknowledged by the two.

The teacher was the first the notice him. "Oy. Sasuke is it? Were you waiting for someone?"

"Sasuke!" the Hyuuga girlexclaimed surprised.

"Waiting for you."

"Ok..." there was this credulous expression on her face.

"Walking together." he slowly said, hoping she would get it. He wanted to leave early today.

"Ohh. Well bye Ms. Shizure." Hinata waved to her and walked with Sasuke out of the classroom.

Walking her to her locker, she finally opened her timid mouth to speak. "It's very nice of you to walk with me, its fine. I can manage to get home myself."

"Like I said before. We're going the same direction. It's convenient for us to walk together."

He rolled his onyx eyes. He simply didn't understand why the hell she kept excusing herself to try to get away from him. There wasn't anything wrong with him. Most girls he knew had a crush on him and would_ faint_ if he asked to walk with them. Sasuke thought he had the female mind figured out.

Their hike this morning was both pleasant and a bit awkward.

Hyuuga didn't pester him with questions about himself or even try to flirt with him; then again, he didn't expect that sort of behavior from such a shy and quiet girl like her.

The silence had been refreshing. Sasuke wasn't much of a conversationalist so he didn't bother small talking to her. He did get a vibe that she had wanted to speak to him. He wasn't in a hurry to get to school on time. Who cared if he was late?

Until today he had never quite noticed that she was in most of the same classes as him.

As such a genius as himself, he was a blind idiot. It was at lunch when he recalled what the girl had said about her home being nearby, did he realize something: Hinata Hyuuga was related to Neji Hyuuga, cousins to be exact. It couldn't be true that she lived near by. Sasuke had been to the Hyuuga compound for several Saturday practices. And the Hyuuga home was miles away from where Kakashi lived.

Sasuke wanted to question her but it didn't seem like she would give him a straight answer. He kept his mouth wisely shut. Nearing the residence he politely asked. "Where do you live?"

Hesitating for a moment, Hyuuga opened her mouth of speak.

"Yo." Kakashi said, suddenly coming out of the house. Sasuke shot the older man an irritated look. Kakashi chose to ignore him.

Hinata said a quick goodbye and left scurrying away.

"Sasuke, there's no food and I'm starving!" Kakashi whined.

"So why didn't you get food? You're home all day." Sasuke pointed out, gritting his teeth. '_For gods sake_.' The man was twenty five or something. Old enough. He should have been able to fend for himself.

"I was waiting for you to come home. So you could pay for the meal."

Sasuke raised a brow. What could he expect, it was typical Kakashi behavior.

Without another word, he went inside the house to put his bag away and change out of his stupid uniform. Walking in the house, he noticed what a mess it was. There were wrappers and pieces of paper littering the hallways and a faint smell was coming from the kitchen. A nasty, unidentifiable smell. It was the reason why he tried to avoid the kitchen as much as he could, entering only when it was absolutely necessary. His own room had a mini-fridge, so he wouldn't starve.

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"Why don't you clean up? The house looks like crap."

Kakashi and he walked in silence, going east of where the house was located. The Konoha Academy was in the southern direction. The Ramen shop was east and the food there tasted way better than the other shops in this woodsy area.

"I think we could use a maid."

"You're the slob." He retorted.

Sasuke liked his privacy and he liked living in the woods with his 'uncle Kakashi,' where there were no annoying fan girls to find him. He didn't want some stranger intruding in his room and touching his personal things.

"Why don't we go to K.F.C.?" Sasuke asked snidely.

"It's not nice to eat chicken."

Sasuke stopped moving when his attention was reverted by a bright purple tent pitched by the river. Who was the moron who was camping here, in November? Kakashi noticed the tent as well and halted his movement. A girl came out of the tent. '_The Hyuuga girl?'_

She froze as Kakashi and Sasuke stared. "Hi." she weakly said. Sasuke emotionlessly raised a brow, waiting for her to explain. Meanwhile Kakashi was laughing his ass off.

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She coughed a few times before she spoke. He observed that she appeared a bit paler than her usual creamy complexion.

"You guys must be wondering w-what I-I'm doing c-camping in the forest, huh?"

The three of them were seated in Kakashi's study, the cleanest room after Sasuke's own bedroom. . She was visibly uncomfortable, squirming by their attention towards her. The walls of the study were covered with posters of half naked girls and a bookshelf was reserved for Kakashi's 'great literature' or pornographic novels as Sasuke liked to call them

"So Hinata, why are you camping on Hatake lands?" Kakashi questioned her once he stopped with the annoying laugh and he had calmed down. He chuckled softly, giving her a relaxed warm smile though his mask.

"Your land? I am so so so so sorry! Again! I –I –I didn't know." She apologized . It looked like she was being to have a panic attack or something. The girl's stuttering seemed to get worse. It was being to irritate Sasuke. "I didn't have any where else to go!"

She lowered her head; her bangs covered her pearl eyes. Hinata blabbed on. "My father and I ... had a disagreement (_cough cough_) and he kicked me out... out of the house while I decided I wasn't... (_cough cough_) wasn't going back."

The house was eerily silent as she just stopped talking. Hinata's breathing was heavily labored. But before she could continue, she collapsed.

* * *

Hinata woke up lying on a futon with a damp wash cloth on her forehead and a blanket curled around her. She sprang up on shaky legs. This wasn't her tent and she wasn't in her room. So where the hell was she? 

"Hey you're awake. Feeling better?" Kakashi asked, arriving by the door to the study. Sasuke stood by him. There was an expression on his face which she couldn't decipher.

"Yes. Thank you so much but I should get going. I need to re-pitch my tent some where... else." She said trailing off and gave them a gracious smile. Her head was still a bit warm and her throat was getting sore. She moved to pass Sasuke but he didn't budge.

"Stay." He ordered her.

"Huh?" was she hearing things? He stared into her eyes.

"Kakashi and I talked about you while you were sleeping. There's an extra room upstairs. That will be your room."

Hinata broke eye contact. She wasn't able to stand his unnerving eyes. "A-rre you serious? I-I-I just cannot accept your offer, it's too much! You don't even know me." Nervously she played with her fingers, a habit she had sometimes. She was touched by their generous offer, but she couldn't impose on them, and she didn't know them too well.

"No worries. We'll pay you for your lovely services."

Hinata swallowed the lump in her throat. Did Kakashi mean what he was just hinting at?

"I'm glad that the house will finally be clean. The kitchen has some weird black thing growing in the fridge..."

'_Oh okay! I get it!_'' She smiled brightly at them. Maybe she wouldn't regret her decision of leaving the Hyuuga compound. She was beginning to get worried if Neji, her older cousin somehow found out about this... all the implications it would hold for her if her father knew about her living arrangements. Hinata shook her head. The reason she left was so that she could have her own freedom and make her own decisions, good or bad. No one, except herself, was going to decide on her destiny. She was going to follow her own path.

"I'll stay, for only a little while. On the condition that you don't pay me. I have to earn my own keep here. You can make me leave any time, its fine with me."

"Glad you finally decided. I was waiting for you to shut up." Sasuke said shoving his hands deep into his pockets of his baggy jeans. Hinata ignored his offensive words. She didn't notice until now that Sasuke had changed out if his uniform. He looked... different without the uniform, A nice different. Through looks weren't everything. Could she actually _stand_ living with that guy?

"Great. You can start cleaning as soon as you're done moving in." Kakashi told her.

A door was slammed shut and it sounded like a window had broken. "HELLO? I 'M HERE!" a voice bellowed loudly. It sounded like it was coming from the foyer.

"Noo," Sasuke groaned, "it's the moron."

"I forgot to lock the front door. Naruto's late" Kakashi commented. He left the two of them in the study to go greet the guest.

"You better meet the annoying freak now and get it over with." Sasuke said and went ahead without waiting for her.

Hinata cautiously traveled through garbage to the foyer. Although Kakashi's house wasn't as grand as the Hyuuga mansion was, she was sure she could get lost if she wasn't attentive.

Beside Kakashi, there stood a tall, messy blonde teenager wearing an orange jacket. A large dirty canvas bag was thrown by his feet. His surreal blue orbs seem to illuminate in the dim lighting. His wide grin was infectious as he looked at her. She shyly smiled back at him, hoping she wasn't blushing. No one was this open with her within a few seconds of meeting her.

Then the teenager turned his attention to Sasuke. He crouched low, getting into a defensive position that Hinata recognized from watching Neji practice martial arts. The sleeve of his jacket slipped down and a silver band bracelet was wrapped around his wrist. It was beautiful, but a little feminine for a guy though.

"Miss me Sasuke? I'm ready for a rematch! You must have cheated somehow the last time."

"_Not now._ You're late and loud, dobe. We have another guest staying here as well, Hinata. The loser has to stay here as well." Sasuke sneered.

The blonde refocused his attention on Hinata. He extended his hand to her sheepishly, "Oops, my bad. Sorry, if I was being rude. I'm Naruto! Hinata, right?"

"Yye-" then Hinata slipped on a sock and she slammed into Naruto. She closed her eyes, waiting for impact, but hen her eyes reopened as she felt something warm and fuzzy in her hands. She was hugging a little fox. What the ...?

Starting to panic with the adorable foreign fox in her hands, she turned to Kakashi and Sasuke, waiting for one of them to say it was a practical joke or something. They both simply stared in horror.

"I turned him into a fox." She said stupidly and in disbelief.

But in her inane clumsiness, she slipped on something wet and her arms flailed, one hand nearly strangling the poor fox, and landed on both Sasuke and Kakash., In a **P O O F **of lavender smoke... they changed in animals.

A tiger and a rooster to be exact.

Their clothes littered the already messy floor.

Shocked, she fainted.

* * *

Opening her eyes, she discovered a rooster, a tiger and a fox, peering down on her. 

"Wow Hinata, you recovered fast. ARE YOU OK?" the fox asked.

'_The fox is talking to me. Okay... I must have whacked my head hard when I blacked out. Really hard.'_

"A FOX IS TALKING TO ME. No Mr. Fox, I don't think I'm okay."

"Hinata it's us." The tiger spoke. The Tiger sounded just like Sasuke's brooding voice.

"We didn't tell you this before; since we thought it would never actually happen. We change into animals of the Chinese Zodiac when a person of the opposite sex-- females in our case--hugs us, or when we are under a lot of stress," the Kakashi the rooster explained. Hinata was half shocked and amazed about this piece of information. People could actually turn into animals!

"We're born cursed -- a part of the 'Family'. We change back into our human selves in a while." Sasuke elaborated a bit. She saw Sasuke exchange glances with Kakashi.

Hinata examined each creature carefully. Her eyes lingered on the fox/ Naruto. He was walking around and his tail swished the ground. What Kakashi had said was true than, the fox wasn't some stupid thing to tease Hinata. A part of her was shattered that the cat wasn't part of the zodiac, since it was her favorite creature out of all of them, but the fox was cool too. It would just take some time getting used to, after nearly seventeen years of hearing the tales of the cat and the other zodiac members.

She secretly smiled sadly at him.

"You won't tell anyone about us right?" Naruto eagerly asked her. Her heart melted looking at such a cute little fox.

"Of course not! I swear I won't."

Unexpectedly, there was another **P O O F!**

In a cloud of smoke, the three animals switched back into human males. Naked males.

"Ahhh!" she shrieked covering her eyes, embarrassed.

"I forgot to warn you that the time varies when we change back." Kakashi told her.

Her eyes were still closed and she felt the heat from her beet-red face. Some rustling and thumping could be heard.

She had never seen anyone naked. Not even partially naked, like still wearing pants but bare-chested. Only once did she disgustingly see her grandfather sunbathing when she had been younger. Her father had even forbidden her from going to the beach or going to the local YMCA, since the Hyuugas had their own Olympics sized swimming pool.

"Sorry, you can look now." Kakashi told her. She looked up to see three fully dressed males.

"I didn't see anything! I swear!" Hinata squeaked. Her face was still warm.

"It doesn't matter if you saw anything. I have a great body, there's nothing to hide. Peek anytime you want Hinata." Kakashi bragged and winked.

"Umm.." Hinata said blankly. She was uncertain if he was joking or not, there was **_no way_** she would ever do anything like that. She really didn't see anything ... well nothing lower!

"You pervert!" Naruto shouted.

"You perv. What great physique do you have? You barely do _anything."_ Sasuke said sneering.

Hinata gave them all a half smile_. 'Yeah, it's going to be interesting living here. I just hope I don't regret it'._

She was sleeping under the same roof with a perverted rooster, an intimidating tiger and a loud fox. The animal house.

* * *

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If u have ever watched Fruits Basket, the story is roughly based on the anime, but since there will never be cross dressers and many of the characters have vastly different personalities, the concept is the same but the plot will be entirely different. Does that make sense?

The story might seem a little awkward...

The next chappies will definitely be shorter. I just wanted to introduce a few of the main characters and get the story rolling.

I might change the title later on... anyone got a better title? Guess the characters of the other animals of the zodiac are going to appear!

**Review and later : ) **


	2. Restless Tiger

(This the fastest I have ever updated! ) Thanks for the reviews! I got over two hundred hits- even if you disliked the story, the bizarre summary made you want to read the fic!

According to another reader there were many spelling and grammar mistakes in the first chapter. Someone fixed the mistakes and I reloaded the first chappie (so read it again if you're in the mood!)

**Don't hurt me if I made Sasuke a bit evil in this chappie... it couldn't be helped! He'll redeem himself in later chapters.**

Let's be clear on the fact that the concept of the anime Fruits Baskets is based on this story, but most of the plot in future chapters will be different from F.B.

I doubt I can writetwenty-sixchapters anywayz...

**Read and Review!**

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T h e - A n i m a l - H o u s e

**_Chapter Two:_**

_**Restless Tiger**_

Sasuke was infuriated that Kakashi was letting the Hyuuga girl know so much about the cursed 'Family'. Did he want Sasuke to erase her memory? The only reason he begrudgingly agreed to have Hinata live in the house was because, it was really Kakashi's home and he couldn't object, when he had been invited to stay in his home as a guest. So it was Kakashi, Hinata, the Idiot, and himself under one roof.

He glared at the back of Hinata's head. Sasuke fixed his shirt that he hastily put on after the girl had knocked into him.

Naruto was someone he could barely stand. The dobe's loudness and his cheery exterior pissed him off so damn much. He didn't know how long he could put up with the fox. Seventeen years so far, and Sasuke couldn't stand him.

"Ummm... Mr. Kakashi, I'm going to get my things... you know... from my tent. I'll be back later." Hinata told him, shyly pointing to the general direction to where her 'home' was.

Unable to help himself he snorted. Sasuke couldn't believe a girl like her decided to live in a tent. The Hyuugas were rich; she could have used her credit card to stay in a hotel for a few days. What sort of a person went _camping_ in November?

"Tent?" Naruto echoed.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He grunted and cautiously leaned against the wall.

_Whatever._ He wasn't going to explain anything to the idiot, right now.

"I'll help you get your things Hinata!"

"Sure Hinata. And stop calling me Mister." Kakashi ordered her, bemused. "When the two of you come back I'll show you to your rooms. It gets boring only living with Sasuke."

"Thank you for your help Naruto." She politely said.

Sasuke patiently waited until the both of them were gone and beyond hearing range when he shot Kakashi a snarled look.

"What?" he innocently asked. Out of nowhere, he took out one of his perverted books. The _Icha Icha Paradise_ series he loved so much.

"Why did you tell her? No one has known the 'Family's' Curse for too long without erasing their memory. You're going to tell him then you're going to erase her memory aren't you?" Sasuke asked, demanding the answers from the man. He was getting tired of this shit.

It was too risky telling an outsider their secrets. Nothing good was going to come out of it by revealing to Hyuuga the 'Family Curse'. Rule number one of the 'Cursed' was, the moment the secret was exposed and someone transformed, was contact the "cleanup team" and erase their memories. There were _no_ exceptions to the rule.

"Yea. I have to tell him. But maybe we don't have to wipe out her memory." Kakashi calmly told him. Then he patted Sasuke on the head like he was some little child and he went off to his study. And Sasuke was left alone in the living room.

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Sasuke woke up to the loud singing of some moron. His blurry eyes checked his alarm clock. '_Damn it'_ It was only seven. He didn't even get up until eight. He fell back asleep again until the clock buzzed. Still groggy, he got up from his warm bed and changed with his eyes half closed. He wore a school uniform, so there really wasn't much of a choice in what to wear. He took a pop-tart from the top of the mini-fridge in his room and stuffed it in his mouth. Chewing quickly, Sasuke went to the bathroom connected to his room.

He walked downstairs and entered the living room with the television blaring. As he passed Naruto sitting on the sofa, he punched him hard on the back of the head.

"Ouch! What the fuck was that for!" Naruto shouted. Sasuke cringed, his head was pounding. Naruto's voice was hurting his ear drums. Hecouldn't even tolerate to hear the idiot's voice this early in the morning.

"I heard your damn singing." He said.

Kakashi was seated in the recliner beside the sofa, reading a newspaper. He shot the both of them a look. "Yo, you two. No violence in the house. I already have a broken window from yesterday."

Naruto pouted and rolled his eyes. "It was an accident."

"You just missed her. Hinata already left for school, she said something about a class assignment she had to do."

"Really now? Don't care. Didn't need the info, thanks so much." Sarcasm dripped in his voice. He was still grumpy in the morning. He hated waking up so early. Last night he couldn't even sleep. Old memories haunted him.

Sasuke put his sneakers on and grabbed his school bag.

"I'm registering for school later today! I'm going to be at the same school as you." Naruto nearly shouted.

"Yeah..." Sasuke said swallowing a retort. It was too early for him to beat up Naruto or protest how much he absolutely hated living in the same house as him. "Whatever. Later."

Maybe living with Kakashi had made him late for school everyday. Or it was the general attitude he had in life. He didn't care. The homeroom teacher never marked him late anyway, it didn't matter.

* * *

She had been sitting quietly in class, minding her own business. Neither Shino nor Tenten were in her biology class. Then, out of the blue, the teacher had decided to pick on Hinata to take the attendance. Teachers usually liked her because she was quiet and always did her work.

She dragged her feet to the office, stalling for time. Her classroom was on the second floor and she wasn't in the mood to learn. Her mind was on other things, hardly concreting about school work.

Hinata was feeling better today. She was dressed appropriately for the cool weather. A fluffy lavender scarf was tied around her neck, matched her eyes. She wore black _slacks_ and a pullover instead of a knee length skirt and a white blouse she normally dressed in.

It was strange waking up in someone else's home. She had become accustomed to camping in her tent. Now she was going to sleep in an unfamiliar bed. Hinata had mixed feelings about living in mister Kakashi's home. She was going to be forever grateful for him to allow her, a total stranger, to stay at his house. They had never negotiated how long she was going to reside for. The same thoughts kept running though her head: did she make a rash decision?

Hinata hardly knew these people. It was still hard to comprehend that they could change into animals. She was curious to learn more about this curse. Though she didn't want to pry into other people's businesses, if they didn't want to tell her any details concerning the Curse.

She had a feeling that Sasuke didn't like her living at his house. Being in his presence for even a few minutes made her feel uneasy. Last night, she could feel his cold eyes gaze at her, not in hate, but extreme dislike. Hinata was beginning to get annoyed. She hadn't even done anything to deserve his judgment of her. Naruto: her first impression of the blonde was that he seemed energetic and nice enough to help her with her stuff. He made a very cute fox. Kakashi seemed a bit... perverted, but kind nevertheless. He just didn't look like a rooster.

She handed the attendance sheet to the office lady and trotted back to class. Hinata paused to stare outside the glass wall to the garden. It was a mess. The flowers were wilting and the trees had lost most of it leaves. There was something about the fall season she liked. The cycle of ...

Then a hand roughly grabbed her and pushed her against the window. Enraged ebony eyes stared at her. He was careful to keep her pinned at an arms' length away from him. His face was inches away from hers.

_Sasuke._

"What..?" Hinata asked, bewildered. She gritted her teeth to not cry out in pain.

"Did you say anything to anyone?" he harshly whispered in her ear. Sasuke staring down at her, he still didn't let go of his grip on her. His eyes were changing; he almost had a feral appearance to him. Like his animal form.

"Ab-bout what? The curse? No, I didn't! I haven't said anything to anyone at all. And I don't plan to."

Hinata could clearly read the mistrust in his eyes. Her breathe hitched as she made an effort to inhale and exhale with the furious male invading her personal space. Sasuke had trapped her, and in fear, she froze, unable be free of his grip.

He intensely stared at her for a moment longer, before he let go of her.

Hinata backed away from the wall, cautious to not touch him. She didn't want to accidentally fall and trip on him again. She quietly sighed in relief, and hugged her arms.

"They wouldn't believe you anyways." He muttered snidely, scoffing.

Sasuke slammed his hands on the window. The glass vibrated. "People that turn into animals..."

Hinata flinched at the violent act. "I-I-I- I hav-ve to go back to class now... I'll see you at your house... okay?"

"It's not my house." Sasuke simply said. Black bangs covered his eyes. He didn't look at her.

Gathering courage she never knew she had, Hinata said, "You need to start to trust me."

Hinata walked back to class, not bothering to turn around and glance at him. Her heart throbbed like crazy_. Damn, was he scary._

0.0

o.0

Her face was still flushed as she walked back into class. The teacher ignored her and continued on with the lesson. Hinata wasted ten minutes in the hallways, not including the time spent with Sasuke. It was a record for her. She guessed the teacher was cutting her some slack. Hinata _was_ one of her top students.

She slid into her seat two seats in front of Neji Hyuuga. Hinata shrink down in her seat as she could feel her cousin's piercing gaze at the back of her head.

It didn't make sense that Neji wasn't interrogating her about where she had been for the past four days instead at the Hyuuga compound. Neji might have hated her; however he still had to follow her father's orders.

Hinata wanted to fix what happened in the past. However it was foolish for her to think that Neji would be forgiving and the both of them could be friends again.

The younger Hyuuga slowly got out her pen and pretended to write down notes about what the hell teacher was speaking about. Hinata tried to figure out a way to avoid Sasuke at the house...

* * *

Kakashi drummed his fingers on the coffee table. He got bored from reading the newspaper and he decided to wait for Hinata and Sasuke to come back from school. 

Naruto was on the floor, engrossed in a soap opera, so he was no fun.

The both of them got back from the private school to register Naruto. The blond whined and complained that he didn't want to go to school for at least another couple of weeks, that he needed to settle in. Naruto almost got his wish. Today at Konoha Private Academy, he had been forced to write an entrance exam and do an interview with the principal. Naruto nearly failed his exam, receiving a horrible mark. The interview didn't go so well either. He managed to insult the principal, the second he meet her. Naruto called her an 'old hag lady'.

Kakashi rolled his eyes exasperatedly. He really didn't want Naruto hanging around his house all day. He needed some peace and quiet to read his 'great literature'. Furthermore, as a writer, he couldn't just write with a loudmouth kid jumping all over the place. Subsequently, to help poor Naruto out, he joked about the time his friends and himself had attended the school and terrorized the teachers and the former principal.

Tsunade rolled her eyes. She had been one of the teachers his 'posse' had terrorized. She checked his records and wasn't exactly impressed with Naruto's reputation Tsunade sighed and agreed to let Naruto come to Konoha Academy, on an academic probation. Starting tomorrow.

Kakashi smiled blissfully to himself. _Ah, the good times of high school_. Oh how he missed it.

Wait what was he saying? He was only twenty-four! He was still young. He was simply bored and his entertainment depended on a stuck up teenager, a hyper loudmouth and a shy girl... he told himself.

Ugghh! Kakashi needed a life. He could start writing... but nah! He would wait for Kurenai to visit/nag at him.

0.o

0o

"Hi." Hinata quietly said coming in the house. Good thing she wasn't some psycho, he should consider locking the front door sometimes...

Her head was lowered and she was carrying her bag over one shoulder. Poor girl, seemed like something happened at school. Kakashi really liked high school girls' uniforms. Too bad that Hinata didn't wear a short skirt.

Naruto didn't answer her. His blue eyes were glued to the screen.

"Yo, you didn't walk with Sasuke back?"

She glanced over to Kakashi with a polite smile on her face. "I-I-I have no idea what happened to him. Ummm... I don't have much homework today... so I'll start on cleaning the kitchen. O-okay?"

He smiled warmly at her. He did feel bad for making her girl clean up the huge mess Sasuke and himself created. The kitchen, in particular, was a nightmare for any one. "Thanks! Remember to get rid of that black stuff in the fridge!"

"Okay..." she squeaked. "Do you have Lysol?"

"What's _Ly-sol_?"

"Err... never mind! I'll try to find it myself... or I'll buy some cleaning supplies at the store. Later!" Hinata said, waving her arms, and went upstairs.

_Heh._ Kakashi was bored again.

0.o

He stood up. Kakashi walked over to Naruto and took a fist full of his shirt and dragged him a little further than the two feet he was away from the giant screen TV. The kid didn't even protest.

The silver haired man checked his watch. He was delaying telling _him_ about his new guest.

"Naruto, I'll be in my study."

"Ahuh." He replied, his focus still on Brad, Brittany and Brad's evil twin.

Kakashi shut the door to his study. He didn't want Naruto overhearing his conversation. Naruto especially had excellent hearing.

His uncovered eye glanced around the room. He personally decorated his lovely office by himself. Some like Sasuke thought the room looked a little perverted, others appreciated the beauty of half naked pictures of women.

He sat down at his large oak desk and moved the phone closer to him. Kakashi stared at the phone for a minute, hands folded under his chin. Finally, he dialed the number of the Main House.

_Ring, ring, ring._

"Hello?"

"Yo. It's Hatake. I need to speak with Orochimaru, Kabuto."

"Of course. _(pause)_ He'll be with you in a moment."

Kakashi drummed his fingers, waiting for the most important man in the 'Family' to speak with him. It simply had to be done. It wasn't good to keep secrets from him. Kakashi lips curved. _It'll be hell on earth when Orochimaru finds out about this. _

* * *

0o0o0o0o0o0oo0 

Yeah, the chappie is super short, not my usually lengthy chapters. No romance. I needed to save some stuff for chapter three. It's all 'bout Naruto. I don't want to portray him as a goofball; I'll make him a bit more serious in this fic. Ino and Sakura will be making their appearances soon.

Yes I know Kakashi is a bit older but I made him a bit younger.

Thanks to : Annie 3, Cindydemon tamer, white tiger, Jan Ors, NanamiYatsumaki, Xoni Newcomer, ed-chan, angel of reviewers...hehe, Preventer Squall, Nekemi.

Also several reviews mentioned that they wanted me to pair up Hinata with Naruto. Review and give me your opinions on the pairings, I'll take it into consideration on the final pairings.

I'm wondering whether I should make Kiba, the dog of the zodiac or another character...

Anywayz later: )

**Always read and review!**


	3. Damn Tie

Thanks so all the reviews and the enthusiasm for this story. I'll take some of the ideas and use them for this story. The chapter is a bit crappy (and long) I warn you, I kept revising

and revising, I'm still not fully satisfied wit it.

**Warning: Shino and Naruto may be somewhat OOC. Shino is a very complex character to write about. **(Sasuke bashing in Naruto's mind)

I 'm not a hundred percent certain about the final pairings yet. I'm constantly changing my mind. I keep reading fluffy naruhina. But this isn't going to be the sort of fic where Hinata instantly harbors a secret crush on Naruto and one day realizes he's in love with her too. Love hexagon(?) : SasukexHinataxNaruto and etc(all shall be revealed soon). Mild NejiTenten and InoShikaTem )

**

* * *

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**T h e - A n i m a l - H o u s e**

**Chapter 3:**

**Damn Tie**

Naruto reentered Kakashi's home at eight am. He quietly closed the door behind him.

Naruto had decided to go out for breakfast at a little ramen stand this morning. Yesterday, to his dismay, the kitchen was a freakin' hazardous mess. There was nothing in the refrigerator except black fuzzy stuff. There wasn't anything in the cupboards either. He _needed _ramen to survive and enjoy his day. He struggled for three months without ramen when he was in the forest training to be stronger.

He hadn't seen another soul for nearly three months. Now he was back in civilization and had to follow the rules of society. All his life he attended an all boys' school. Now that he had been given this chance by the Head of the clan, he wasn't sure he wanted it. Konoha Private Academy had way more students. _Female_ students. He was feeling crowded just thinking abut it.

Naruto ran up the grand oak staircase. He cautiously moved past the girl, careful to not brush against her in the narrow space.

"Hi." She politely greeted coming down the stairs.

"... hey..." Naruto said, with a surprised expression on his face. She was speaking to him...

He glanced back at her. She was already dressed in the black and white school uniform, and carrying her backpack. That reminded him... he still had to put on his own uniform for school.

Naruto slammed shut the door to his new room in Kakashi's house. Sighing, he stared at his uniform. The plastic was still wrapped in them. Five sets of white shirts, black 'slacks', blazers and black sweaters. A tie decorated with the Konoha Private Academy crest was also included.

He quickly changed into the shirt and slacks. He had to re-button the shirt a few times before he was able to get all the holes. The tie... he attempted to put it on but no avail. In frustration, the blonde took it off and stepped on it. The slacks were a size too big. The material barely stayed on his hips. An idea popped into his head.

_Screw wearing the stupid tie the conventional way._ Naruto picked up the tie and looped it though the belt loops of his dress pants and made a simple knot so it wouldn't unravel. Besides, Naruto didn't own a belt. He had a good excuse.

He ran his fingers though his spiky blond hair. It was messy...nothing he could do about it.

Exiting his new room, the fox jumped off the landing and managed to land on his two feet.

Although he didn't like school, Naruto wanted to have an early start getting there. He grabbed his pencil (like what else did he really need for school!) and rushed out the door- to only to be stopped by the lazy rooster blocking his exit.

"Move!"

Kakashi crossed his arms, cocking his head. "Naruto, why don't you wait for Hinata and Sasuke to walk to school with you?"

"I don't like the bastard. Why the fuck would I walk with him!"

"Despite the _tender_ feelings you have for him, I don't care." Kakashi pointed a finger to where Hinata quietly sat on the corner of the couch. Her head turned to him, attentive. "You guys are now roommates and you all attend the same school. Also... if the three of you don't walk together both to school and home, then I'm locking you out."

"...okay..." Hinata said nervously agreeing.

Naruto frowned. That was the lamest thing he heard about getting Sasuke and him to bond together. Nevertheless, he knew Kakashi would in fact lock them out of the house. Kakashi was evil and twisted. "...Fine..." he stubbornly replied.

The fox flopped himself on the other couch frowning. Kakashi hummed to himself heading towards the kitchen.

"Wow, it looked like shit before. I can walk to the fridge without hearing squishy noises. Good work Hinata! The kitchen's so clean," the impressed silver haired man loudly commented.

"Thank you, but I wanted to repay you for letting me live here. Umm... Mr. Kakashi?" Hinata asked standing up and walked to the kitchen.

"Yea?"

"I found a rice cooker in the garbage. D-did you still want it? I cleaned it, just in case."

"Hey! That's where it went! Oh well, I stopped looking for it months ago." He said popping his head from the kitchen. He waved his hand dismissively.

"...Umm... okay then." Hinata quietly mumbled. Naruto glanced over to the raven haired girl. No offense to her- she was so quiet. He could hardly hear her when she spoke to him. He gave her a friendly smile and she somewhat smiled back at him.

Ten minutes had passed already. Naruto checked. Tapping his foot, he was getting restless waiting for Sasuke to appear. He was going to be late for the first day of day. Exasperated, the bright blond stood up.

"Sasuke you asshole! HURRY UP!" he screamed from the top of his lungs.

Then the bastard appeared at the top of the stairs, glaring at him. Naruto blinked. He was used to Sasuke's cold piecing glares. "Scurry your ass downstairs!"

"What the fuck is your problem?" Sasuke demanded as he walked down the stairs.

Hinata and Kakashi tilted their heads to gaze at him for a second before turning away.

Naruto felt something in him explode with anger. Sasuke constantly had everyone's attention and the tiger ignored everyone else. Naruto had to try to get the other members of the zodiac to even _look_ at him. One day, he was going to prove to everyone that the fox belonged with the other zodiac members. _He even makes a damn grand entrance. It really pisses me off._

Naruto clenched his teeth and turned his head to look at older man. Kakashi shrugged his shoulders. "I think all three of you should walk together to school. Then Hinata and you can show Naruto around."

"Why?" Annoyance flashed on Sasuke's face.

"C'mon. You have too. If you don't, than I'm locking all of you out of the house. And let me remind you: I never give you a house key..."

"...fuck." Sasuke agreed nodding his head once.

"I just remembered something! We never officially discussed the living arrangements. Hinata, you better be careful and lock your door at night... Sasuke and Naruto are sex crazed teenagers. A cute girl like you wouldn't be able to defend yourself against their lust! So, I'm putting my foot down and saying no to sleepovers!" Kakashi declared.

Naruto somehow could see through Kakashi's mask that he was smiling and silently mocking them. A faint blush on his face, he narrowed his eyes. Kakashi was the biggest pervert he ever knew.

Hinata's face was a shade of pink. "I-I-I'm sure that would never happen Mr. Kakashi."

Hinata smiled nervously and waved. Putting on his shoes, Naruto turned around and gave the man the 'finger'. Sasuke walked out the door.

"Bye!" Kakashi cheerily said waving farewell to them.

0.o

o0

Naruto had been forced to be sandwiched between Sasuke and Hinata as they walked to school. He restricted himself to keep at a steady pace with the two of them. He was mentally cursing Sasuke for walking so damn slow. Hinata was more or less walking that the same pace Naruto was.

Now he knew he was a bit dense, but the air around him was on edge. The fine hairs on his neck were standing up. There was tension between Hinata and the brat. About what, he didn't know.

Naruto placed his arms behind his head. He hummed to himself attempting to ignore both Sasuke and Hinata.

Bored again in a few seconds, he turned to discreetly 'gawk' at the two of them. Hinata and Sasuke possessed many of the same qualities.

_1. They're both super pale. I'm the only one with a healthy tan. I can't decide who would win the 'you need go out in the sun, you vampire!' award. Hinata is the Snow White pale, whilst Sasuke is freaky sick pasty. So defiantly Sasuke wins the award! Hmm... If Sasuke didn't already have a brother, I could swear Orochimaru and him were related. _

_2. They have black hair. Really shiny, girly black hair. Hinata is a girl, so it was okay for her to have good hair. However it seemed _queer_, for Sasuke to have shiny hair, and in a weirdo hairstyle as well. Is Sasuke gay? He very well could be..._ Naruto moved a bit farther away from Sasuke...

_3.Ahaha! I'm taller than both of them! _Naruto noticed that over the summer he finally grew taller than Sasuke, even if it was only by an inch. Hinata was shorter than him by a foot.

_4. Both of them are dead quiet. Where did their personalities **go**? Hinata and Sasuke both needed some energy and move **faster **for school!_

Naruto sighed, wanting to rip his blond hair out. At this rate, they were going to be seriously late.

0.o

0o

The fox stood in front of the office lady waiting for old hag lady to come out of her own office. Apparently, for an inane reason, Tsunade had to hand him his schedule for the year. Hinata and Sasuke both left him on the front of the school steps. Hinata had been kind enough to mumble that class was about to start and wished him a nice day. Sasuke just walked away.

The office lady indicated to Naruto that he could enter the principal office. He slowly crossed the threshold. The room was getting smaller. _I'm going to faint from the lack of oxygen! _His overactive imagination told him.

"Naruto." Tsunade greeted him, seated at the grand desk. She pointed to the empty seat. He walked to the chair.

"Hiyo." He muttered. Naruto sat straight up in his seat, his foot tapping the floor nervously. He eyed his transcript that was there in the open. It was a very thick folder all about him. He cringed. His former teachers and principals made a lot of interesting comments about him.

Kakashi told Naruto quite a bit about the principal. The blond old hag lady was really fifty something years old. And she hit incredibly hard.

"Now, as I have already told you, you're on academic probation. Your test scores weren't very high, you didn't even pass. However, since I've known that Kakashi loser when he came here, I will allow you to attend Konoha Private Academy." The old hag lady said sternly.

Naruto unconsciously began to crack his knuckles during her lecture. A habit he developed over the years.

Tsunade stood up and handed him his schedule. She then slapped him hard on the back, "Welcome to Konoha Private Academy, kid!"

She bent down to whisper in his ear, her hand on his shoulder hurt like hell. " if you cause any trouble here, I won't suspend you, I'll just kick your ass."

Naruto slowly nodded his head. He shuddered on the inside. She was a scary hag lady. Wasn't it illegal for teachers and principals to beat up their students?

"Okay. You're dismissed, Naruto."

He stood up quickly. A foxy grin on his face. "See ya later, old hag lady!"

And he ran away from her office.

"You can't hide! I'll find you and kick your ass!"

0o

o0ooo0

Naruto walked around the school, trying to find his first period class. Room 165. Where the hell was one-six-five? He probably wasted ten minutes attempting to find his class.

He stopped walking when he realized he went around the school to end back where he started. Shit. He growled to himself. _Ack_ shit. He was standing in front of his first period class.

Hesitating and memorizing the scratches on the door, he finally knocked. Seconds passed when the door opened. The teacher was a young woman. Most likely in her early twenties. Short spiky black hair and hard scarlet eyes. She was dressed in ripped baggy jeans and a forest green spaghetti top.

"_You're_ my teacher?"

_Fuck, did I say that out loud?_

"Yeah kid. You got a problem with that?" She asked cocking her head placed a hand on her hip.

"You actually went to teacher's college and _got_ a degree?"

Damn, he couldn't keep his loud mouth closed. He cringed mentally.

"Yeah, would you like to see my diplomas, or should I call the university and have them fax my records for ya?" the young teacher asked, glaring at him. Naruto knew he was going to be in deep shit with her later. He meekly shook his head no. "Have a seat new kid, over by the dark haired kid with the drooling girls all over him."

Naruto turned his head to look where the teacher was pointing and to his dismay, she was pointing to the empty seat beside Sasuke. Why was it always him! Why? Why? Why? Was fate always this cruel?

He huffed. "Okay, Miss." The blond absently handed the teacher the transcript. He shuffled over to his seat beside his roommate. Sasuke didn't even bother to glance at him. Naruto shot him a look.

She glanced over it for a moment and placed it on the desk. In an ominous tome she said, "Don't think I'll forget this_, Naruto Uzumaki_! I'm Anko. No Miss."

As Anko continued on with her lesson (Naruto had no idea what this class was...) he tactfully peered around the classroom checking out the other students. He recognized Hinata sitting in the company of a girl with two buns on her head and a guy wearing sunglasses and a heavy jacket covering most of his face. There were various girls seated near him and Sasuke, many possessing a lovesick expression on their faces.

Feeling disgusted, Naruto tried to focus his attention back on the teacher's lesson. But he couldn't concentrate so he crumpled a piece of scrap paper and threw it at Sasuke.

Naruto loved lunch time! It was the best thing about school. He lagged behind the other students as slowly as he possibly could to exit his second period's classroom. It was something about technology. A class he most likely was going to fail because his teacher was a prick.

It took him a long time to even find the damn classroom and he got chewed out by the damn teacher for it. Naruto had no fucking idea where the lunchroom was located. All he could do was follow the scent of food.

He absentmindedly waved to Hinata as he passed by her.

"N-Na-Naruto?"

He whipped his head towards the shy girl. "Yeah?"

Hinata opened her mouth to speak as another student hurried pasted her, pushing her out of his way. Almost falling backwards, with lightning quick reflexes, he caught her in his arms.

"Uggh shit." The words escaped from his mouth, before he transformed.

**_P O O F!_**

Clouds of smoke filled the now empty hallway. Hinata stumbled to the floor, as Naruto's hold on her was gone.

"Oh my gosh!" Hinata cried.

Naruto's sense of smell and hearing increased greatly. He felt smaller and trapped in his fox form. A helpless feeling... The orange furred fox pranced around in a small circle beside Hinata. He formerly went to an all boys' school and an incident like this had never occurred before, until now. He had always been good at dodging other people invading his personal space. Hinata was the first girl in a long time to see him transformed.

Her grey eyes were wide open with shock. "What are we going to do?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. Or as well as he could in his fox form. On the inside he was freaking out as well.

His ears twitched as he heard three girls approaching them. They were talking about Sasuke... "People are coming!" he hissed.

"Errr..." Hinata nervously said. She frantically _picked_ him up and _stuffed_ him in her black sweater buttony thingy she wore over her white shirt.

"Wha-" he mumbled as her pale hand covered his tiny mouth. She buttoned up the sweater to conceal him. His blue eyes peeked out him small holes on the wool material.

"Shh!"

Hinata moved over to where his clothes were lying on the floor. She began to pick them up.

"H-Hey guys!" Naruto heard Hinata stutter.

"Uhh what exactly are you doing Hinata?" one girl asked her.

"Yeah!" the other two chimed. Naruto rolled his eyes. Couldn't they think of anything else to say?

"Hey Tsubucki, Ari, Jo. I–I–I think that someone is s-s-streaking in the hallways. The person left their clothes on the floor... I'm go-going to to the lost and found and put them there."

"Oh okay, that's nice..." said the first girl that spoke to Hinata.

"Bye!" the three said together. He heard the rapid footsteps of the three girls disappear.

Hinata stood up with his clothes in her arms, and Naruto stuffed in her shirt. She began walking. It was uncomfortable being cramped, but it was fun getting a ride! Peeking again though her sweater, he saw a wooden door with the sign 'WOMEN' and a stick figure wearing a dress.

Naruto was now panicking. "Where are we?"

"Shh! Wait a sec."

A minute passed in silence. Naruto, still in fox form sniffed the air. It smelt like some overpriced girly perfume. He couldn't believe he was in the girl's washroom.

"Okay! There's no one here!" Hinata exclaimed, and ripped him out.

"Ack!" he mumbled. Suddenly he was smushed against her chest. She was really warm. Her fingers stroked his fur gently. It was kind of nice. As a child he rarely had physical contact from a female. Most feared his transformed state.

"You're really soft and fuzzy."

The orange fox raised an imaginary brow. Was that supposed to be a comment or an insult? Soft and fuzzy? He really didn't want to be known as soft and fuzzy. _This girl has no idea what I actually look like._

"...Thanks..." he quietly said to her, glancing up at her face.

Hinata gave him a small smile.

_Aww shit,_ he thought. A tingling sensation went up his spine. His electric blue eyes widened and he leaped out of her arms.

**_P O O F !_**

"Oh my gosh!"

The smoke finally cleared and Naruto managed to quickly put his pants on during the process.

"I swear I didn't see anything!"

He turned to look at Hinata's blushing face. He felt his face turn pink. Nervously he scratched his head. He somehow ruined the peaceful moment. "Sorry... I should have warned you sooner."

"T-That's ookay!" her stutter came back. She strolled over to the sinks to wash her hands to give him a bit of privacy to change into his clothes.

Picking up his dusty white shirt and hastily buttoning it up, all he was left was his tie.

_Damn tie..._

Hinata glanced back at him and frowned. She critically looked at him. "Uhh...Naruto? Your shirt is..." Hinata trailed off, walking towards him.

She unbuttoned the buttons, and properly got all the holes in the right place. Hinata must have thought of him as an idiot. Embarrassed, Naruto looked up at the ceiling, feeling conscious about his gangly body. Yeah, he worked out, but he wasn't incredible shape. He really wished that he worn an undershirt. His curse seal that circled his bellybutton was painfully conspicuous. She gently took the tie out of his limp hand, and fixed it appropriately around his neck.

Hinata stepped back to admire her handiwork, and she bit her lip smiling.

"Thanks..." Naruto incoherently said under his breathe.

She mumbled something to him. He had to strain to just hear her. "Huh? What? I didn't hear you." He loudly asked her.

"Do you want to sit with my friends, Tenten and Shino for lunch? You don't have too... We're...roommates now. " she quietly invited him.

A huge child-like grin appeared on his face. "Yeah sure!"

Usually he spent lunch alone. He tried not to appear too eager to have lunch with Hinata's friends. As he was exiting the room with Hinata behind him, he really couldn't believe that he was in the girl's washroom.

Naruto held the door as Hinata narrowly missed slamming her head into it. "The lunch ladies make some special leek cakes for me!"

Hinata was a weird girl. But she wasn't that bad.

* * *

Shino Aburame sat down at the table. It was odd having another person sit at their table. It was mainly the four of them; periodically Kin would join their group. Kiba was still away on his extended vacation to Disney World (!)

Shino was still receiving annoying postcards from Kiba bragging about how he was enjoying his vacation during the middle of November. He kinda wished he was at an amusement park himself. Most of his beloved insects weren't around...

The new four were seated at a clean table in the far corner. Shino didn't feel like bringing his lunch, so he opted to get something from the caf. It was wise for them to wait before getting in line with the mass of hungry people. Hinata could get free _edible_ food from the lunch ladies. The lunch ladies adored her.

"Food..." the blond muttered under his breath. Naruto's antics were bemusing. The blond was a little too loud for his taste. He reminded him a bit of Kiba's vociferous personality.

Shino was a quiet person who didn't mind if people simply left him alone. He was better at observing others rather than interacting. A large amount could be known about a person just by watching then. If Hinata liked him then it was fine with him.

Usually it was the four of them and plus Kin once in a while because Shino had a 'way' of freaking out people. One glance from him, his fellow students and teachers ran away. If he wanted them to shut up or go away he opened his mouth and recited an interesting tidbit about bugs. Kiba and Tenten once told him that the tidbits were " didn't need to know that!" and "Ohh man that's disturbing! I'm going to puke!". He enjoyed having the effect on others. It was almost as fun as being with his ant farm.

Shino wore black round framed sunglasses and never took them off. He found the harsh florescent lighting for the school hurt his eyes. (Does he even have normal eyes? Or are they like all buggy?). The light brown jacket he wore over his uniform concealed most of his face and the many pockets were home to his small friends.

Tenten glanced at Naruto disparagingly. Both of them were a little overprotective of their friend Hinata. There wasn't much known about the new kid. "Sooo...Naruto, where did you come from?"

Naruto raised a brow at her, a bit confused. "Huh? I lived in Konoha all my life. I went to an all boys school for a while, then I dropped out of school to train!"

Tenten looked at him interested now. Was she actually impressed? Frankly, Shino thought it was a little absurd to drop out of school to train. "You know martial arts? We have a team here; Neji is always looking for new members. With Neji and Sasuke, it gets--"

"That asshole is on the team?" Naruto nearly shouted standing up.

"Yes." Shino replied for Tenten. She didn't like being interrupted.

Shino raised his hidden eyebrows. Shino noticed Hinata smiling nervously, poking her fingers at the mention of Sasuke's name. _Interesting, but why?_

Gasps and coos from most of the female population were heard suddenly.

"'Prince Sasuke has entered the room." Tenten commentated rolled her eyes.

Naruto unexpectedly stood up and ran to the lunchroom doors. The three of them turned their heads to look at the blond. Shino watched as Naruto jumped at Sasuke, held him in a headlock and dragged him to the table. Sasuke was uttering impolite curses at Naruto. Everyone watched in shock. Sasuke managed to wrestle out of Naruto's headlock, by elbowing him in the face. He dusted off invisible specks of dirt from his uniform, before glancing up to glare at the blond.

"You freak! What the hell was that for?"

Crossing his arms, Naruto _growled _at him. "Since I have to walk with you to school, I thought you could eat lunch with Hinata and me. We're supposed to be _bonding_ or some shit like that."

The 'Prince' scowled at him. Sasuke slowly sat down beside Shino.

Shino was beginning to feel a prick of annoyance with the whole school staring at their table. Couldn't they mind their own business?

"You guys know each other?" Tenten asked, her chin resting on her hands. Shino didn't particularly care. Sasuke wasn't either his friend or teammate.

"...Yes." was what Sasuke said. She waved her arm for him to elaborate, unfortunately he remained quiet.

"We have to live together." Naruto answered.

"I would have been happier if you stayed in the woods doing whatever the hell." Sasuke muttered.

Awkward silence followed.

"So... Hinata." Shino slowly began. Hinata glanced up to look at him. "...How's ...your job? ...I... haven't... been ...there ...in a while."

Sasuke scoffed in disbelief. "_You?_ Work?"

"Yeah, she does. You got a problem?" Tenten demanded, narrowing her almond irises. She was getting defensive. Tenten seemed to not understand that Hinata was strong enough to fight her own battles.

"It's fine. Choji is always nice to me. I like earning my own money at the Cookie. " Hinata quietly responded, attempting to break the tension between the members of the Karate team. Hinata's eyes never met Sasuke's. _They're avoiding looking at each other. _Shino realized.

In his own way of being friendly to new people, Shino turned his attention to Naruto. "So Naruto, are you interested in joining the Insect Association at our school? The I.A. is made up of caring members who are dedicated to learning more about these amazing insects."

Naruto gave him a blank stare. It took him a moment to speak. "...Nah! I ... didn't like creepy crawlers all that much. Thanks for the invite though!"

He noticed Tenten roll her eyes. "Uggh. Stop trying to recruit people to join your little _cult_ Shino."

"It's not a cult...It's an extra-curricular activity that we care deeply about." Shino defensively informed her.

"You guys _worship_ the bugs. You pray for them for chissakes!" Tenten argued.

"No comment." Shino said. He didn't pray for them, per say.

Naruto's and Sasuke's faces held identical looks of disgust. Tenten and Hinata raised a brow as they saw an ant crawling out of Shino's sleeve. Shino shrugged his shoulders and scooped the ant in his hand.

* * *

The chapter just keep getting longer and longer. I just couldn't find a place to end the story.

Late September is likely the next time I'll update. Nooooo... school is coming soon and damn those Zeller commercials for reminding me.

Response to those who reviewed (thanks!):

Hiniminita: thanks for adding me to ur favorites!

Snakey: thanks for reviewing the 1st chappie as well. I think Kakashi is a big perv, I didn't know how to make him in this fic.

ShikaruTo: wow you seem very enthusiastic about this story! Thanks for the nice comments. Yeah Neji does hate Hinata this point in the story, it'll all be explained later on. Choji I've decided won't be a member of the cursed family; he'll have another (minor) role in The Animal House.

Mrshmllowz: thanks for also reviewing the first chapter! Uhhh... I'm pretty sure that Rock Lee won't be the Dragon(fly). That's funny though. Rock Lee may be the monkey or Konohamaru (I've been indecisive about these 2). Trust me, no cross dressing for either of those 2!

Preventer Squall: Shikamaru is the cow, for some reason I changed Gaara to a non-zodiac member. Although Gaara would also fit being the cow. Yep, Kiba is now officially going to be the dog. He'll show up next chappie maybe. Kabuto isn't going to be the horse because he has a more evil role in this story. Sorry to disappoint u but Sakura x Sasuke, will be one-sided. I can see them as a couple...i dunno just not in this fic...

Jan Ors: Sasuke is hard to write about, thanks for the positive words.

Khmer shinobi: I wouldn't somehow include Sasuke behaving less cold to Hinata. Sasuke will defiantly redeem himself the next chappie. This chapter came getting longer and longer and it's the longest chapter for The Animal House so far! Ino-pig will be the boar and Sakura will be another zodiac animal. Orochimaru may or may not be the head of the family, someone told me I should make another character (I won't say who) be the head of the family and I'm considering it. Gaara like I mention before, has another role in this fic and wouldn't be a zodiac member. Yeah, Shino is going to be a bit _odd_ in The Animal House, he shall be feared by all except his close friends and the Insect Association.

Ed-chan: Thanks! Ino and Sakura started the Prince Sasuke fanclub... they appear next chappie.

Dragon Man 180: just for u, I've added the 'washroom scene' for u. Akamaru will reveal his true self to Hinata next chapter or the fifth chappie perhaps.

Kawii-Kitty, NanamiYatsumaki, Cindy demontamer, Kazenoko, kijo kasumi, ): thanks for the kind words and ur idea on what the pairings should be.

0o0o0

There seems to be way more Sasuhina fans then NaruHina fans for this story.

Oddly I've made the third chapter more NaruHina then Sasuhina.

They all don't know each other that well yet, so their (Sasuke's and Naruto's) 'romantic' feelings haven't developed yet for Hinata. Sasuke still has to prove to Hinata he has a good side to him and he has to actually trust her.

Well keep reading to see how the pairings turn out! There's going to be many surprises and twists.

**Review** people. **Review!** Need the feedback!

Yay for YTV for getting Naruto!

Anywayz later : )


	4. The Playboy Bunny and Ino'Pig

I had everything planned in my head, just... I couldn't find a way to make this a good chappie. I've noticed a pattern, it seems like the more chapters I type (this applies to every fic I've posted on there is a decrease in reviews and the number of readers interested.

Anywayz read and review.

**Beware of typos and grammatical incorrect sentences. As I rushed to post this, I later realized that I forgot to add something important. SO THIS IS THE REVISED VERSION! **

0o0o0o0o

* * *

-T h e – A n I m a l - H o u s e-

Chapter 4:

The Playboy Bunny and Ino-Pig.

_0o0o0o_

_Ding Dong_

_Ding Dong_

Ino Yamanaka huffed. Using her blue nail-polished index finger, she repeatedly pressed the door bell. _Where the fuck is everyone?_

"Should we just go in? I know it's rude, but the pervert never locks the door. " Sakura Haruno pointed out. The both of them were standing in front of Kakashi Hatake's home. Both of them were very irritated.

"I'm going in first to see _my_ Sasuke!" Ino declared. She grinned and tried to open the door first.

"No way! Me!" Sakura shouted, grabbing the door knob.

_Typical Sakura,_ Ino thought as she rolled her eyes. Gleeful, Ino violently shoved Sakura out of the way. The pink haired girl took her arm and twisted it behind her back. Ino was about to kick her painfully on the shins when a quiet voice spoke.

"Uhh... hello?"

Surprised, Ino and Sakura glanced up from their immature bickering. A short blue-raven haired girl with grey eyes timidly stood behind the door.

Sensing Sakura's hostility, Ino flashed the girl a fake smile and poked Sakura's arm.

"Are you Hinata?" Sakura rudely asked as she stepped into the vast home. The girl jumped away and opened the door wider. Ino walked in Kakashi's house. She raised a pale blond brow as she inspected the foyer. There was not a speck of dirt any where. No garbage littered the floor or a nasty odor emitting from the kitchen.

"Damn, it's clean." Ino said whistling. She was impressed. _Who he did he pay to clean up this pigsty?_

Sakura shot the girl another look before she repeated the question. "Are you Hinata?"

"Yes... errr... w-who are you guys and how do you know my name?" the teenage girl asked. Ino figured Hinata was the same age as they were if she knew Sasuke.

Before Ino or Sakura had a chance to speak, Kakashi entered the foyer. He was dressed in jeans and a dress shirt with the ridiculous half mask-thing covering his face. The slightly older man hardly went out or had any visitors. There was no point in wearing a mask. Ino in the past had seen his face and he was far from ugly.

However, it would have been weird to think of her cousin that way. Ino was related to Kakashi one way or another from her mother's side. Some of the Hatake land belonged to her family legally. Somehow, some cursed members were related to each other. Sasuke and her were _not _related at all. There was no mixing of the Yamanaka, Uchiha or the Hatake bloodlines. Ino had actually done numerous amounts of research of her family tree to be sure. Sakura had similarly done the same research for her family.

"Yo. Sasuke's in the living room."

"Thanks!" Ino said. She rushed to the living room with Sakura running beside her. Ino knew that there was no way the pink haired girl could beat her in a race. Ino was the athletic one, and besides, she was wearing her sneakers while Sakura was in two inch heels. Sakura was more of a preppy, 'cutesy' dresser when Ino chose to wear comfortable loose clothing.

Slightly surprised, Ino mumbled a greeting to Naruto, seated on the carpeted floor by the coffee table. She skipped over to sit on Sasuke's lap, or otherwise he would have ran away from her already. The guy's reflexes were getting slow. Smiling deviously, Ino wrapped her arms around Sasuke's pale neck possessively.

"HI Sasuke. You look great today, as usual." Sakura smilingly greeted Sasuke. No response from him except a glare.

"I win, Forehead girl."

"Shut up, Ino-pig."

"You're too slow."

"No, you cheated."

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Sasuke groaned and roughly took Ino's hands off of him. "Both of you shut up."

Sakura frowned. Ino pretended to be unhappy that Sasuke yelled at her. But she honestly didn't care. Ino loved the way Sasuke's black hair covered a bit of his dark eyes. She sometimes couldn't breathe when she was close to Sasuke's incredible body, the guy had a great set of abs (how she knew this fact was going to be kept a secret). The feelings she had for Sasuke was only physical, she blamed her hormones. The bottom line was that Sasuke was damn hot and any girl who couldn't see that must have been blind. However, his personality stunk. He ignored her for years and treated her horribly. So she wised up and got over him. The only reason Ino still fussed over him was to piss off the wicked bitch Sakura.

It had only been a childhood crush. Unlike Sakura, Ino wasn't going to fool herself that Sasuke was going to one day wake up and fall madly in love with her. Ino was a vocal (loud) person and she would usually voice what she sought after. She was gorgeous; Sasuke was stupid to not see that. Ino could have any guy she wanted. She simply couldn't hug them or be physically intimate with the opposite sex ... and that pretty much ruined any date she went on.

Ino's attention was turned to Kakashi and Hinata returning to the living room. Kakashi sat on his recliner and the girl chose to sit by herself on the bay window seat.

Sakura rolled her green eyes and walked over to Naruto.

He scrambled to get up and attempted to hug her. The blond boy beamed at her, "Hi Sakura! You missed me?"

Instead of embracing him, she punched him in the face. "You butthead! You didn't call me when you were away. I didn't even know when you were coming back!"

Ino made herself comfortable on the sofa. She was going to stay out this fight. She didn't have the right to interfere between them. Although, she would have punched Naruto herself if Sasuke wasn't the reason she had rushed to get living room. For the past three months, Sakura had been worrying sick when Naruto had run off to go to the forest and train for some stupid reasons. Sakura didn't talk much about the fox boy, yet Ino knew Sakura deeply cared for him even if she never told him and constantly called him annoying. Despite what she had been told by the 'Main House'; Naruto didn't seem so bad, just hyperactive sometimes.

Naruto's left cheek was already turning red, in a nasal voice he replied, "I was in the forest training! I don't own a cell phone! It was only four days ago."

"So? I still want to hear from you. You could have made an effort to call or mail me! What the hell are you doing here anyways?"

"But-t-t-he, I was broke...a-and-" Naruto stuttered before Kakashi mercifully cut him off. "So what do I own to this lovely visit today girls? Another Sasuke trip?"

Ino scratched her head. _Oh yeah... I almost forget for a second._

"Yup! Kakashi I didn't know you had a guest. Or else we would have come to see Sasuke some other time." Sakura lied to him with a straight face. The girl turned to acknowledge Hinata, nodding her head. "Hi there, we didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves when you opened the door. I'm Sakura Haruno."

Ino secretly rolled her eyes that Sakura was doing that polite two-faced act of hers. "Oh, I am Sasuke's number one fan girl! Ino Yamanaka! Nice you meet you." she shouted dramatically waving her arms in the air. She gave a flirty smile, flipping her blond tresses behind her back. Well Ino could do that showy act of hers.

"No, I' m Sasuke's number girl!" agued Sakura.

"Okay, okay, we're Sasuke number fan girls because we are the founders of the Official Sasuke Uchiha's fanclub. We're co-presidents and we have all the exclusives on Sasuke. " Ino smugly said cracking a smile.

She pointed to a golden Official Sasuke Uchiha button pinned on her jean jacket. The buttons and various other merchandise were sold like candy to all of Sasuke's fan girls. Ino and Sakura had just about enough money to retire.

Sasuke merely frowned at both of them.

"They kind of act like stalkers." Naruto explained to Hinata, laughing his head off. The girl meekly nodded her head.

"No we don't." Sakura yelled at him.

Ino took one of the pillows on the sofa and threw it at his face. "We _so don't_ stalk him."

"H-hello. I am Hinata Hyuuga and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintances." The introduction was spoken in such a quiet mannered tone; Ino had difficulties hearing her voice.

_Hmmm..._

"Hey you guys! Since you're always coming to Kakashi to visit Sasuke, you'll always see me! Me and Hinata are living with Kakashi too. Isn't that great?"

"Hinata is rooming with the three of you?" Ino and Sakura both screamed in disbelief. Ino narrowed her eyes.

"Naruto, it's 'Hinata and I' not 'me and Hinata'." Kakashi corrected him. "Yes Naruto and Hinata are staying over my house for awhile. In return, Hinata cleans this place up. I think it's a fair deal. Besides, she already knows about the members of the zodiac secret. Hinata, Ino and Sakura are part of the zodiac as well."

"Oh!" Was Hinata's surprised reply. The girl's pale eyes widened.

Naruto raised his fist in the air. There was a very stupid grin on his face. "Ino is a piggy! Sakura becomes a pink bunny!"

Ino's eyebrow twitched. It was bad enough with the dating restrictions; she did _not_ need Naruto making fun of her. She hated being the boar. Her animal form wasn't even cool.

For being the boar she had been given the annoying nickname 'Ino-Pig'. The childhood nickname was stuck with her now. In return for being called 'Ino-Pig,' she made fun of Sakura's big shiny forehead. They used to be best friends when they were younger, but during middle school, Sakura started to act weird and they drifted apart. They still hung out together, but as rivaling friends only.

"Well... I-I have to leave for my job now." Hinata said moving from her position by the bay window seat. She gave everyone a nervous smile. "B-bye. It was nice to meet you Ino and Sakura."

It was too bad Hinata was going so soon. They all muttered goodbye to her in return. Then, as soon as Hinata was gone from the living room, Sakura spoke. "She's the only girl in this house. How long is she going to be staying here with you guys? And the most important question I think is **_why_**!"

"Kakashi never asked." Sasuke muttered. "She can clean and cook."

"SHE'S A GIRL AND YOU'RE ALL GUYS! I SEE A MAJOR PROBLEM THERE!" Sakura yelled.

"I know she's a girl. What problem?" Naruto densely asked. Ino shook her head at his stupidity. _Does Sakura really need to explain it all to him?_

"Little kids, kids, settle down. I have a reasonable solution to your dispute." Kakashi announced. He stood up holding a pack of cards in his hands. Where they came from, no one knew. "Let's play strip poker!"

Everyone in the room glared at him. Ino threw a green pillow at him which Kakashi managed to dodge in the nick of time. " Eww. We're like cousins or something. Even if we weren't related I still wouldn't play with a lecherous old man like you."

"I'm not old. How many times have I told you this?"

Sakura, unless it involved a competition with Ino, was normally the peacekeeper in a situation. She held her hands up. "Playing a game of cards isn't a bad , just not _strip_ poker."

"Let's play a stupid card game already." Sasuke indifferently agreed with Sakura. Sakura and Ino exchanged glances. Sasuke barely participated or interacted with other members of the zodiac.

"I'm going to kick each and everyone of your asses!" Naruto loudly declared.

Ino smirked. She grabbed the pack of cards out of Kakashi's hands and began the shuffle the deck. "You're going down Naruto! Whatever game we're playing, I'm dealing the cards."

0o

"CHEAT!"

"CHEAT!"

"Cheat."

"Cheeeeat."

"WHAT THE FUCK! How the hell did you guys know? I demand another round!"

Ino dropped her cards on the floor. "No way. This game is getting old." Ino protested. "you just suck Naruto. You can't even keep a calm face or play the game properly."

It had been the sixth game of cheat the members of the zodiac had played now. Naruto lost all six rounds. Before 'cheat', they had played a round of poker. That hadn't gone too well when they all lost to Kakashi and were all forced to hand him five dollars. It was nice to forget about everything and just have fun.

"_You're_ the cheat Ino!"

"If I was, you should have called on it. I don't think you know how to play either. LOSER!" Ino placed an 'L' on his forehead. It was far too easy to tease Naruto.

"Uggh!" mumbled Naruto, shoving Ino's fingers away from his body.

"Sorry Naruto." Sakura said laughing. She checked her watch. "We got to go Ino. Shikamaru is waiting for us."

Ino playfully hit Naruto on the back. "Later people!"

"Whatever. _BYE SAKURA_!"

"BUh-bye!" Kakashi called them.

Sasuke was silent however, giving the two of them a flick of the hand (his odd and rarely used version of a wave). It was progress because Sasuke actually endured the both of them for the whole time they visited. Typically he would have left without a word. Then usually, Ino and Sakura would have had to hunt him down to tell him goodbye.

Sakura must have noticed Sasuke's little 'wave'. The pink haired girl smiled softly. "Bye Kakashi and Naruto. See you some other time Sasuke!"

Ino and Sakura waited until they had walked out of the forest to the designated place where Shikamaru was supposed to pick them up. Their moods from the walk had changed. Ino and Sakura's immature rivalry wasn't on their minds at the moment. They were concerned with a bigger problem.

Then Sakura spoke. "I don't like her."

"She doesn't seem so bad." Ino said shrugging her shoulders. "She's nice and quiet. I got no beef with her."

"There's something up with that Hinata girl. She said her last name is Hyuuga?"

"So? That could be a total coincidence." Ino defended the stranger she only met this morning. She didn't want to believe that Hinata had a second agenda with the cursed members of the zodiac. They didn't need any more trouble.

"I don't like her living in the same house with Sasuke and Naruto. I know they would never be involved with her _that _way." Sakura irritably said, cracking her knuckles. "There are no coincidences in our lives, remember that."

"I know."

"So what do we tell him about Hinata? Despite the "good report', he'll only get pissed at us."

"She's harmless and she can keep a secret. Hinata won't tell anyone about us." She swirled her blond hair around her fingers. There was a determined glint in her cerulean eyes. "We'll make sure of that."

* * *

Sasuke sighed in relief as the two pesky girls were finally gone. He should have escaped when he had a chance, instead of deciding to playing cards. 

They both clung to him for nearly all his life. However, compared to his other fan -girls at least they weren't rabid and obsessed. So Sasuke was used to them now. _Sakura and Ino, the Co-Presidents of the Official Sasuke Uchiha's fan club, my ass..._

What drew him to their attention was when they mentioned Hyuuga's name before the mousy girl could even introduce herself. Their voices could be heard from the living room. They came to Kakashi's house specifically to find her. He narrowed his dark eyes.

Kakashi told someone at the 'Main house'. The Main house was where many of the cursed resided and their own family members lived nearby. The information was leaked to Ino and Sakura for a reason...Sasuke's blood felt cold as his thoughts turned to Orrichimaru. He was the one who sent them over. It made sense. Orrichmaru wanted a progress report on Naruto and him, and apparently needed to have someone over to observe Hyuuga. They both made inconspicuous spies; the two always came over to aggravate him. Sasuke was somewhat impressed.

Sasuke could brood about it later.

A yawn escaped his mouth.

O0

0o

* * *

It had only been four hours after Sakura and Ino had come over. 

Though he knew Sakura for the better part of his life, Naruto still didn't understand her. The fox boy never thought that she would get angry about not calling her. He tried to write her a few letters, except that he never bothered to send them to her. All the notes had meaningless messages written on them.

And he still didn't comprehend why Sakura was so upset about Hinata staying at Kakashi's house. There weren't any problems with Hinata. Only Kakashi's rule of Sasuke, Hinata and him having to walk to school together everyday.

He finally found the tiger asleep on the sofa. Naruto spend half an hour searching for him. Naruto was already exhausted.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, towering above the sleeping figure.

"...what?"

"Hinata!"

"...so?"

Sasuke opened his eyes, seething. Sasuke brushed black stands of hair away from his face. "Naruto, you need to tell me in full sentences what the problem is, so I can waste less time with a freak like you."

Outside, Naruto heard the thunder and the heavy rain splattering against the roof. He really hated the rain. Naruto weakly clutched his stomach. Sasuke could probably see all the signs he was exhibiting of the Kyubbi. The curse seal on his belly button was tingling. His dilated eyes had distorted to a lighter shade of blue. He could feel his sharp, canine teeth prodding his tongue and causing him awkward problems speaking. Naruto admitted to himself that right now he did look pretty freakish.

"You have to get Hinata." Naruto stated. He was getting worried about her. It was dark and raining. A nice girl like herself shouldn't be walking by herself. Naruto would have gone after Hinata, except he was in no condition to do so. "She didn't bring with her an umbrella." The blonde aggressively brandished a purple umbrella in prince Sasuke's face.

Sasuke blankly looked at him. "And?"

"She'll get wet! Remember she was sick before..." he trailed off because his breathing was becoming laborious.

"Why me?" Sasuke stubbornly asked crossing his arms. Rolling his eyes, he reluctantly took the umbrella. "...Shit, fine, I need to go take a walk anyways."

"Don't forget she works at the Akimichi bakery, The Cookie."

"Yeah, yeah. At least I can go out walking." Sasuke taunted him, smirking and walked away from him.

Naruto sighed. He was going to let Sasuke get away tonight for making fun of him. He really didn't have the energy to get into a fight with him. _Uggh_, he really hated the rain.

Lying down on the exact spot Sasuke was napping only a moment ago, Naruto fell asleep.

0o

* * *

Stepping out of the door, he was instantly soaked to the bone. Sasuke uselessly put his hood on from his track jacket. He refused to use the umbrella he was carrying because it was...purple. -.- 

He was feeling something familiarly akin to guilt. It was only a few days since he last spoke to her. Sasuke had attempted to avoid her ever since that conversation in the hallways. Pretty hard, since they lived in the same house and attended the same private school.

He absentmindedly walked to the east district where the store was. It took him over half an hour to get to The Cookie. Sasuke never really liked sweet things. He couldn't tolerate the sugar. He preferred tomatoes or rice balls.

Rolling his eyes, he peered into the display window to see if the girl was still there. The fake wedding cake display blocked most of his view but he was certain that the Hyuuga girl was standing behind some fat guy.

_I better fucking go in. _

A melody rang, signaling his entrance. He was dripping water all over the floor.

His nose twitched. As soon as Sasuke stepped though the door, the smell wafted to his nose. Fresh baked bread. A memory came to him... and his heart ached. He despised that aroma.

The cheery, happy decoration was blinding to him. Smiley cakes, posters of cupcakes, and flower stickers. Sasuke hated this place.

She was with a customer. But Hyuuga trembled slightly as her grey eyes stared into his. He arched an eyebrow in acknowledgement. "S-Sasuke?"

"Who else could I be?"

The fat guy she had been with a moment ago was gone, he noticed. Sasuke stood idly by the gumdrop machine.

She calmly continued to chat with the stranger until the old man left before she paid him any attention. Her eyes were downcast and she preoccupied herself with fixing the cash register. "So ...what a-rre you doing here?"

Her shuttering was really getting on his nerves. Couldn't she say a thing without getting so damn nervous?

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to walk you to Kakashi's. Naruto was feeling too much like a weak ass to pick you up. I was forced to come." Sasuke explained impatiently.

"Thank you. However, I can find my own why back to Mr. Kakashi. There was no reason for you to come all the way here to escort me." Hyuuga stiffly told him. There was no stuttering in her speech this time.

_Ahh. There's the egotistical attitude that Neji Hyuuga has. It must be a Hyuuga trait. _

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He wanted to insult her. He wanted to yell at her. He never felt so out of control with his emotions...

Usually he would ignore girls that constantly wanted his attention. Sasuke knew how to handle their behavior. Hyuuga infuriated him by doing the opposite of what nearly every female did. Around him, she attempted to be invisible and be her mousy little self. It only bothered him even more. So when they were forced to be near each other or in the same room, the tension between them was... hard to disregard.

He would try being civil to her. "Well I'm here now. I'm not leaving until you leave."

"I won't be leaving for some time. Sorry for your troubles." She gave him a fake tightlipped smile.

The fat teenager walked back into the bakery from the storage closet carrying a glue gun. "I found it Hinata!"

"That's great, Choji." Hinata said.

Sasuke observed the fat guy wasn't as fat as Sasuke originally judged him. The bakery worker had cropped reddish brown hair and brown eyes. He swore he had seen Choji somewhere. There was an impressive amount of muscle; a person could tell he had been overweight before. His stomach still had a bit of flab.

"Hi!" Choji greeted Sasuke. "Do you require any service?"

"No. H-he'll be leaving soon." Hinata spoke for him.

"Only when you come with me." He shot back, completely ignoring Choji.

Choji critically looked at both Hyuuga and Sasuke. Then a huge smile was on his face. "Are you guys going out?"

"No way in hell." said Sasuke. He nearly snorted a laugh.

"I don't h-have a-any romantic feelings for _him._" she squeaked out appearing horrified.

That smile was still on Choji's face. "Sorry about the assumption. Anyways, we can finish the decorations next week, Hinata. It seems like your friend has to walk you home. It's pouring outside, so I really don't want you to get sick again. So I don't think my dad would mind if you left a little early."

"You sure?" Hyuuga asked a worried tone in her voice. "I mean I would help clean up and close the shop."

"I can eat any food that wasn't sold today. So there's no problem."

The girl reluctantly put her coat on.

"Okay then bye Choji. My next shift I'll work twice as much!"

"See ya!"

Hyuuga followed him out the door. Sasuke opened the damn umbrella he had been carrying with him and handed it to her. He was soaked already, it wasn't going to make any difference.

She still tried to protect him from the rain with her futile efforts. He rolled his eyes at her. He didn't make a sarcastic comment about her.

They walked together on the deserted streets. It somewhat reminded him the time he walked with her before she knew about the members of the zodiac.

0.o

0.o

Sasuke could almost see past the trees to Kakashi's illuminated house. The two of them were carefully walking past the twigs and puddles of mud. The rain had stopped and the moon was peaking though clouds.

"I won't tell anyone. And I'm not going to ask anything about the Chinese zodiac members." Hinata suddenly said peering down at her shoes. "It wouldn't be fair to you to ask that you trust me. You don't even know me."

He didn't know her. Sasuke was curious to why Hyuuga was like the way she was. Her family was wealthy as hell. Running from home and the whole living in a tent wasn't a very bright idea.

Playing with the pocketknife he kept in his pockets, he thought it over. Sasuke didn't know how to discuss to Hyuuga matters concerning 'the cursed'. He wasn't allowed to talk to anyone outside the 'Main House' about the details. "What I will tell you is that the myth goes that long ago (Sasuke wasn't sure of the years), the curse originated from different five families, called the 'Main House'. The curse was passed down from each generation. Nowadays, mixing of the bloodlines is told to increase the chances of a child born 'cursed'. All twelve members of the zodiac are born with a vengeful spirit in their bodies. While the fox is a special case."

"Special?" Hyuuga quizzically asked.

"The Fox will never be part of the zodiac. Yeah, special, Hyuuga. There is no cure for us. The only way that the baby could be born cursed is when a member has died." Sasuke gravely explained to her. He didn't need to tell her his personal history. Hyuuga's face changed when she heard about the freak.

"I still don't trust you. But I haven't heard any rumors about me that I can change into a tiger." Sasuke told Hyuuga glancing directly at her. It was his discreet way of apologizing about the hallway incident. Sasuke simply couldn't say those two damn words 'I'm sorry'.

The Hyuuga girl and he opened the door to the house. He heard noisy clanking coming from Kakashi's office. Sasuke was about to head to the kitchen and he turned to Hyuuga as she dropped her bag on the hardwood floor.

"T-thank you again for walking with me." Hyuuga held a tiny smile on her face. She genuinely smiled at him. "You're not as scary as I thought you were."

Sasuke nodded his head. He could sort of tolerate her better now. "Bye."

"Goodnight, Sasuke."

0o0o0o0o0

* * *

The chappie seemed feh to me, sorry for the rush-y-iness. 

Any ideas on what should happen next are great. The cure for the members of the zodiac- still deciding whether I should have a cure or not... I don't really have a cure yet- it's just a really stupid (and cheesy) idea right now...got a better solution? please tell me. Also, so does this story seem to be more Sasuhina than Naruhina or something?

I still haven't fully explained the reasons why Hinata ran away from home. Most likely that will be revealed next chappie.

The next chapter in titled 'That Cute White Dog!". It features Kiba (like duh!).

Anywayz I love when people review, thanks to:

Lala, Moonlight Miko, Cindydemon tamer, khmer shinobi, mI. Shoe, Anime/Manga Lubber, Dust-in, Hiniminita, Dragon Man 180.

Later : )


	5. That Cute White Dog

Thank you for all the reviews! I got inspired again to type this fic. **So though who read this story before Oct. 6th (if you can like remember when you read this...), I've revised it a bit and added some stuff.**

Ohh**, Khmer-Shinobi**, I was in a hurry to post it and didn't have time to really read it over, and as I was posting the chapter I when realized my mistake. So you should read the 4th chappie again to figure out what zodiac members they are. Sorry about that ( -.- )

The final pairing is still undecided. I am still very torn between Naruhina and Sasuhina. .

Well read and review!

0o0o0o0o0o

* * *

**T h e - A n i m a l - H o u s e**

**Chapter 5:**

That Cute White Dog!

Kiba Inuzuka had no idea why he was ordered to visit Kakashi Hatake.

His family had gone to the Main House to report on their return. It was his first day back from his vacation from Disney World (!) and he was feeling jetlagged. He wasn't used to the time difference just yet. His body felt like it was still partially asleep. He dragged though the forest.

He vaguely remembered that Sasuke Uchiha lived with Kakashi Hatake. He really saw enough of him at school. And Kakashi wasn't normal. The rooster usually donned a mask that covered most of his face. Kiba didn't quite understand the reason for that. _The guy looks like a freak. Does he think he's a masked bandit or something? _

So there he stood stalling on the front steps of the house. He should have knocked a few minutes ago, but there was the feeling of looking stupid. Kiba couldn't exactly give a reason for coming over unannounced. The head of the cursed only instructed him to go to Kakashi house and report later to him.

He rang the door bell a few times. It was fun playing with it.

Canine eyes glanced at a bush that made rustling noise. A squirrel ran out of the scrub. _Oh_.

He heard the door creak open. Finally, Kakashi came. And without turning around, he immediately shouted, "Hi!"

"H-Hey Kiba."

Hinata's voice?

"Huh?" he said turning around to see the person standing at the door. What was Hinata doing here? Did he accidentally go to the Hyuuga compound instead?

Kiba's mouth opened. Wow did Kiba feel stupid.

He had been so sure it was Kakashi's. He blamed it on his jetlagged mind.

"Oops! Hahaha." Kiba apologized laughing like a fool. The girl stood there looking mildly confused.

"My bad, Hinata. Hahaha, I just came back from Disney World! I was supposed to see someone but I must have gone to your house instead! Haha... Sorry and... err... see ya at school. Bye!"

"B-bye? Wai-"

Then Kiba waved to her and walked away singing a show tune.

Man, he was going to see Kakashi tomorrow. And find the right house this time.

_Oh yeah!_ He cheered himself on.

* * *

Tenten wiped the beads of sweat pouring down her neck with her towel. That was some workout. 

Sparring with Neji Hyuuga was never easy. It was hard to admit that her skills weren't at his level. Not yet, at least. She was always on guard when they fought. Neji usually went much easier on her. This time though, Tenten was sure she was going to wake up black and blue.

From the corner of her brown eyes, she noticed Neji was speaking to Sasuke about something. He didn't look out of breath. Not even a hair of his long black hair was out of place. Tenten admired and hated that about him. He always looked so damn perfect!

Joining the Martial Arts Club was one of the best decisions she made. Although Tenten favored using weapons- such as a katana during a fight, she loved being on the team. She was the only female in the Club and none of the other guys treated her any differently. Tenten became good friends with some of them. Without the Martial Arts Clubs, she wouldn't even have been on speaking terms with Neji.

Tenten was somewhat of a tomboy. She preferred having a more natural and comfortable look. There was no makeup on her face and her dark brown hair was always in two buns. She despised those fake idiotic losers who only used their 'feminine assets' on equally stupid boys.

"That's the end of the meeting." Neji announced. "Get ready for next weeks' tournament. Go change now."

"Bye!" she shouted to everyone. Picking up the towel she headed to the girls change room. Not willing to take a shower in the school's faculties, Tenten applied deodorant and changed her shorts, tee-shirt and wore her school uniform. Tenten's eyes caught a grey binder. She took her schoolbag and she cursed herself for forgetting to do something.

_Aww shit_. Tenten completely forgot to give back Hinata her English notes. Damn, tomorrow was their test too. Hurrying out, she spotted Neji walking out of the change room at the same time. Feeling relieved, she called Hinata's older cousin. His long hair was wet, how did he manage to take a shower in such a short amount of time?

"Neji! Wait a sec."

He stopped and raised a brow. "What is it?"

She walked to where Neji stood. Taking out Hinata's binder, she passed it to him. "Can you give this to Hinata at the Hyuuga Compound? I borrowed her notes and I forgot to give them back." Tenten sheepishly said.

Asking for this favor, Tenten knew that Neji and Hinata did not get along very well. Neji was Hinata's older cousin and hated her. Hate wasn't even a strong enough word to describe his feelings towards the timid girl. Neji never mentioned the exact reason for his deep loathing for Hinata. Tenten knew Hinata from middle school, and thought that Hinata was the kindest person she had ever meet, Tenten brought up the subject with the quiet girl and received an incoherent answer that Tenten couldn't quite understand.

"Hinata no longer lives at the Compound." He crisply told her and shoved the binder back in her hands. He started to walk away.

Tenten's mouth opened speechless to Neji's comment. "W'-what! What do you mean Hinata doesn't live there anymore?"

His cold grey eyes stared her down. "She left the Compound two weeks ago. I have no idea where's residing now. If you must know about that stupid girl, go ask her yourself."

The expression on her face was one of disbelief_. Why? How could...?_

"I can't believe what a cold bastard you're acting towards your own cousin!" The words escaped her mouth. Tenten's cheeks reddened from her outburst. But she wasn't sorry for what she said. Far from it.

Neji's pale features twisted into a sneer. "You know I never cared for her. I'm glad Hinata left. I don't have to babysit her anymore."

"What does that mean?" Tenten demanded. She was getting frustrated from Neji's cryptic meanings. He never once watched out for Hinata.

"Ask your friend yourself," he said. He turned and then he left.

She threw her bag on the floor in aggravation. Neji was downright annoying sometimes. It was times like these that Tenten wished she was a rich girl that owned a cell phone. She was going to rush back to the department and dial Hinata's cell phone number.

Calming herself down, she picked up her bag again. Hinata was going to have to explain this.

* * *

Naruto smiled, the sun felt good in his face. The weather for the past three days had been terrible. The Kyuubi hated the rain. He disliked the rain as well due to all his energy being drained. He became temperamental as the weather changed. The only thing that kept from the Kyuubi from fully being unleashed was the curse seal. His bracelet was the only power that stopped him from looking like a total freak. 

He glanced over to his walking companions. Hinata and Sasuke were still walking on either sides of him. There was a difference today. The mood was calmer. Maybe those two got over their problems.

Weird how it was only a week since he started staying at Kakashi's and he met Hinata. Meeting her made his complicated life even more complicated. She lived at kakashi's and he seemed to be more worried about bumping into her than any other female. He bumped into her another time when they were in Kakashi's house and in his transformed state, he ran away from her that time.

"Saaasuuuuke!" Naruto began.

The dark haired tiger turned his head to glare at Naruto's direction.

"How long are we going to be walking together?"

He would wake up at the crack of dawn and train. He trained to get stronger and beat Sasuke one day. By the time he returned to the house, Hinata and Kakashi were eating. Naruto just wasn't use to the being with others in the morning. He felt if it was his own private time. And no offense to Hinata, Sasuke and her were intruding on his time.

"Ask Kakashi. It was his twisted plan." Sasuke mumbled.

"Can't you ask for me?" Naruto whined, scratching his neck. Speaking to Kakashi was annoying. The man always spoke in riddles that Naruto could never figure out and it leaved him with more confused questions. Or the man would tell him something that would deeply disturb him.

"No." Sasuke replied.

Naruto squinted to see the school building in front of him. _Hey, they managed to get to school early! _

He stuck his tongue out at Sasuke. "You suck!"

The three of them walked in the school building together. They all had the same homeroom teacher anyways. Anko was always picking on him too. She wanted to make his life a living hell. _Man couldn't she get over it? _

Wanting to make a grand entrance, he opened the door and stepped into the classroom with a flourish. "I am here!"

"No one cares." The young teacher drawled, absentmindedly flipping though a car magazine. Anko was seated in her computer chair, her boots dangling off the large desk.

An idea popped in his head. He would play an awesome prank on the teacher.

Naruto was about to retort, except he moved back swiftly as the tall girl with her brown hair tied into two buns came up to the three of them.

"Hinata!" Tenten growled. There was murderous intent in her eyes.

Hinata used her book bag to cover her face. "H-hi?" Hinata meekly stuttered to her friend.

Sasuke and Naruto immediately inched away, fearing the girl. Tenten had a reputation at the school as being _a bit_ scary and violent. There were rumors flying around of Tenten being the leader of a gang. Though Hinata assured him that Tenten had once been in a gang, she hadn't been the leader. That bit of information hadn't actually assured Naruto. _Come to think of it...Hinata's friends are all freaky._

"We need to talk, Hinata." The whole class could hear her scariness.

_Should I stop Tenten?_ Naruto couldn't exactly hit a girl. It was against his morale code. Although he knew that that wouldn't stop Tenten from beating him up.

Hinata nodded her head meekly. "O-ok."

Suddenly Hinata's other friend; the bug boy came in the class. A white dog walked beside him. Naruto frowned as there was something about the canine that Naruto couldn't put his finger on. He was sensing something from the dog. Shino's expression was covered by his jacket. He nodded his head to everyone.

"Hey Shino. Look! It's that cute white dog!" Tenten commented in excitement, her attention was diverted by the dog.

"Ohhh!" all the girls squealed. Even Sasuke's fan girls make some sort of noise.

"Akamaru!" Hinata called to the dog her arms wide open. The white dog skipped over to the grey eyed girl. Naruto noticed that there was an overlarge sized collar hanging from 'Akamaru's neck, spelling out its name. Hinata hugged the dog, smiling happily. "Glad to have you back." She softly said to the dog, with Naruto's amplified sense of hearing, he overheard her.

Naruto scoffed, unable to understand the female mind and their appeal to 'cute' things. Girls were always fondling over something. What was so great about dogs anyways? He hated them almost as much as he disliked cats. Uggh, he had bad experiences with cats.

Shino strolled over to Hinata and Tenten. "Kiba's back."

_Kiba?_

A muscle in his cheek twitched. He wondered if it was the same person they were talking about. Naruto couldn't tolerate that Kiba. Kiba's voice was even louder than his. It seemed like he was fighting with Kiba more than Sasuke, his number one rival.

"Kiba Inuzuka? What the hell is Kiba doing here!" Naruto shouted/asked outraged.

Tenten rolled her eyes at him. Hinata handed the dog over to her to hug. "Haven't we mentioned him before? We hang out together. That lucky loser's been in Disney World(!) for the past week."

Naruto had a blank expression on his face. He tried to recall them ever mentioning Kiba... _OH YEAH_. He never paid much attention to them during their lunch conversations; he was more focused on consuming his meal. "Heh."

The dog barked at Naruto. He jumped out of Tenten's arms and growled at him. Naruto squatted down and stared at the dog. "I don't like you either."

"I guess he doesn't like you. Usually Kiba's dog likes everyone." Tenten mused.

His eyes studied Hinata for a moment. There was the tiniest smile upon her face. She looked up at him. He smiled at her and she quickly turned her head away.

The stupid dog ran out the class door, yelping away.

Naruto stalked over to his seat beside Sasuke, in somewhat of a sulking mood. He ignored the fan girls ogling behind Sasuke's head like usual. He was reading a book. "Why does Kiba get to bring his dog to school?"

Sasuke glared at him, before hissing, "You moron. That was Kiba. You couldn't even sense him."

"No way!" Naruto replied. His blue eyes widened in shock "Isn't that risky?"

Even Naurto wasn't idiotic enough to go running around in his animal form at school. It was dangerous. Kiba knew the consequences were if he got caught.

"I told him that." Sasuke muttered and he went back to looking at his book.

* * *

The raven haired girl clasped her hands together, still smiling about seeing Kiba's adorable white dog. She was glad that Kiba was back from vacationing in Disney World. Howeve,r in the back of her mind, she was still wondering why Kiba had dropped by Mr. Kakashi's house. What was Kiba's connection to Mr. Kakashi...?

The bell rang. Hinata was relieved that Tenten momentary forgot about talking to her about something. It seemed rather urgent. She inched over to her desk.

"Anko! Hinata and I have something feminine to talk about. We'll be back in a while. "Tenten told the teacher. No such luck for Hinata getting away.

The young teacher waved her hand dismissively. She was concentrating on her magazine. "Sure. Yeah whatever. Take all the time you need."

She sometimes wished that Miss Anko was less laidback. Head lowered, Hinata followed Tenten out of the door. Tenten lead her to the girl's washroom. Her friend checked under the stall to secure that the washroom was empty.

"Did your-! "

"Nooooo. I don't want to discuss _that_. Neji told me something yesterday when I asked him to return your binder to you." Her arms crossed her chest. A frightening look flashed in her eyes. "He says that you haven't been living at home for nearly two weeks now. Mind explaining where've you been staying?"

Hinata tried to come up with a lie. And she couldn't think of one. "Uhh...umm..." she stupidly said.

Her throat suddenly became perched and she couldn't breathe properly. Hinata walked over to the sink and poured water over her pink face. Her grey eyes studied herself in the mirror for a moment before she made the decision to tell her friend whom she was close to for four years the truth(well, the partial truth). There would be no mentioning of the zodiac members. She felt guilty for keeping secrets from her friends for so long. In a nearly inaudible rushed whisper, she said, _"_I-I-I needed to leave the compound. My father and I had an argument, so I left and camped in the woods for a few days-"

"Camping?" Tenten interrupted her, an eyebrow arched.

"Uhh yes... And then I met this man that's Sasuke's..." Hinata trailed off. A wave of overcoming sadness came over her; she realized she never knew the reasons why Sasuke lived with Mr. Kakashi. Was Sasuke even related to Mr. Kakashi? "His uncle. He invited me to stay over at his house on a condition that I help clean the house. So I've been there for almost a week."

The dark brown haired girl stared at her in disbelief. Hinata admitted that it did seem like an unlikely story. "...so you're staying with the Prince and his uncle?"

Hinata played with her fingers and nervously bit her lip. "Naruto lives there too."

"Hinata, you idiot! You should have told Shino, or me! You should have stayed over with my family. My mom loves you!" Tenten angrily protested.

Hinata shook her head. It wasn't fair to anyone. "I didn't want to be a burden to anyone. Besides, there was no extra room at your apartment. Also Shino's house is kind of scary." Hinata lamely joked. She faked a smile to show that everything was fine.

"That's true. Shino's place is creepy. I wouldn't be able to last there for a night," Tenten thoughtfully said. Her anger disappeared. Tenten seemed to have a talent for morphing her facial expressions. "Okay. I want to see where you've been staying. Today, Shino, Kiba and I will inspect this place."

Her slate eyes widened in dread. "S-sure." Hinata shakily replied. In her mind, she was panicking.

0.o.

_What am I going to do? _

Tenten and she shortly returned back to Miss Anko's class after their talk. Miss Anko already began the lesson.

She spotted Kiba Inuzuka seated at his regular desk. She smiled and waved at him with a shaking hand.

Slouched in her seat, Hinata played with the silver ring slipped on her middle finger. Shino and Tenten both sat on her left. The class was almost over and she still hadn't thought of a way to postpone the 'inspection' to Mr. Kakashi's house. Her stress levels were very high.

In desperation, Hinata madly scribbled on a piece of paper. She quickly crumpled the paper in a ball. Born with horrible aim, she threw it in Sasuke's direction. Watching in anxiety, it bounced off the prince's head.

_Darn it. _

* * *

Scowling, Sasuke glanced at the paper ball that landed on the desk in front of him. The freakin' thing hit him on the head.

Who the hell threw it at him? His dark eyes turned to Naruto in suspicion. The dumb blond was already asleep in class. He was off Sasuke's list of offenders. Everyone else liked him to some degree. The fan girls surrounded him.

There were purple squiggles were all over the paper ball. It must have been a stupid bimbo who wanted to pass him a love note, he concluded. The scowl on his face deepened. Sasuke tended to ignore those things. He never replied back to them anyways. He slowly and absentmindedly poked the paper ball with a pencil before deciding to unfold it.

**_Sasuke do you have Mr. Kakashi's home phone number or a number to reach him quickly? _**

**_My friends (Tenten, Shino and Kiba) would like to come over today to Mr. Kakashi's. I had to tell Tenten where I was residing. I cannot come up with a single idea to stall them. _**

_**Sorry about this.**_

_**Sincerely Hinata. **_

_So _she_ threw the damn paper ball_. _The girl can't even throw properly. _

Sasuke was slightly quirked that Hyuuga had blurted out about her living arrangements. It would be problematic to say the least. The tension between Hyuuga and him had dwindled. But it was still awkward.

Waiting for the bell to ring, he went up to her. Most students left the classroom in a hurry.

He caught her arm and turned her to face him. Brushing his hair away from his eyes, he spoke to her," I don't know Kakashi's number. I don't even have a freakin' key to that place."

Hyuuga slowly pulled her arm out his grip. Sasuke could sense her fear. With some grim satisfaction he was glad. He learned the lesson that if there was fear, they would be obedient and controlled.

"I'm sorry I threw it at your head. I didn't mean to. Does Naruto know his number?" there was a desperate tone to her quiet voice.

The Prince shrugged his broad shoulders. "I highly doubt it. Let them come to Kakashi's."

Sasuke glanced over to her, she stood there not saying a thing, He noticed how pale Hyuuga looked. "You should wear a thicker sweater wouldn't want you to get sick. You look a little ill."

* * *

There was a disgusted sneer on Neji Hyuuga's pale face. His grey eyes were identical to Hinata's.

He saw Hinata's dog friend over by her lunch table. He assumed the dog boy was back from wherever. Neji never knew what her friends saw in such a weak person like her.

Neji sat with the other members of the Martial Arts Club, excluding Sasuke Uchiha and Tenten in the cafeteria. He figured that Tenten was ignoring him at that moment, due to the fact he inadvertently told her that Hinata had left the Hyuuga compound. It was annoying but she would speak to him sooner or later.

It somewhat surprised him; Hinata in an attempt to disobey her father's orders, had ran away from the Compound. It was a futile effort. Hiashi ordered him to keep an eye on her at school. No search parties were sent out for her. Hiashi wasn't going to demand Hinata to come back; she was going to do that on her own. As long as she returned by Christmas it was fine.

Hinata was vital to the Hyuuga's future, Hiashi told him countless times.

But he wanted her to continue her little rebellion. She was a real nuisance.

* * *

"Hey guys!" Kiba shouted.

_My god, we can hear your loudmouth voice without you screaming_, Shino thought. He didn't bother giving Kiba a response. He just saw Kiba during first period. So why the hell was Kiba acting like he hadn't seen them? Kiba was going overboard with his greeting to everyone. Shino often thought Kiba was way too enthusiastic about life.

Shino noticed around Kiba's neck was that ridiculous dog collar that spelled out 'AKAMARU'. Kiba still didn't take off that thing.

Hinata and Tenten greeted him in the lunch room. Sasuke wasn't with them; it seemed that unless Naruto forced him to sit with them, Sasuke wasn't going to come volunteerly. Naruto was glaring at Kiba. Kiba was glaring back.

"What the hell? I can't believe you attend school now!" Kiba hollered at Naruto.

"Well, I never would have come here if I knew both Sasuke and you went here!"

"I'm going to kick your ass this time!" Kiba yelled at him. He punched Naruto in the face. Naruto stumbled back before managing to counterattack.

Shino watched the two trying to kill each other. Hinata nervously played with her fingers. Tenten stood there frowning for a minute, and then she got herself involved.

"Kiba and Naruto if both of you don't stop, I'll beat the shit out you guys. Now sit down and eat." Tenten threaten both of them. For t he entire morning she had been fuming over something.

The two backed down while still glaring menacingly at each other. There was something unnatural in their eyes. Shino squinted behind his sunglasses. He could have sworn he saw animalistic traits in Naruto's facial features.

O0

O0

Lunch ended up being a tense moment. Naruto had left abruptly and Hinata had trailed after him. She half stuttered that they had the same classes.

"Guys!" Tenten hissed at them as soon as Hinata and Naruto were out of hearing range. Shino looked up expectedly. "Don't make any plans for this afternoon. We're gonna check out where Hinata's been living for the past two weeks."

"Huh? She wasn't at home?" Kiba exclaimed. "Why!"

Tenten rolled her eyes at the fool. She sarcastically said, "I found out that she's been living at the supermarket."

"What! She gets free food?"

"No." she answered him after a moment. "actually, she's been living with Sasuke and his uncle. And Naruto too! A house full of guys...we have to make sure they're not taking advantage of her. Anyways meet up with me at the front of the school at four to see this place."

Tenten waved to Shino and Kiba and walked off.

Shino calmly picked up his garbage and dumped it in the trash can. He mentally calculated how much time he would have to shorten the I.A. meeting.

"How does Hinata know that blond idiot? I knew Naruto from middle school. He's trouble for her!"

"..."

Shino wondered what the drama was all about. Although he knew Kiba would tell him eventually. Kiba probably had the biggest mouth in the universe

"Thanks for helping me out this morning."

"No problems." Shino said shrugging his shoulders. "What are friends for?"

Shino may have not liked Kiba's stupid antics, however he was trusted with Kiba's secret. That secret he was going to take to his grave.

* * *

Naruto stormed out of the cafeteria after he finished his lunch in record time. Hinata's intuition told her that it had to do with Kiba. She muttered to her friends that she had to leave the table because Naruto and she had the same classes.

Her grey orbs saw him weave past students in a fury. She ran up behind Naruto with her short legs before she was able to catch up with his long strides. "Umm...Naruto!" Hinata called him quietly in the crowded hallway.

Miraculously, he turned around when she called him. Hinata almost bumped into him, prior to Naruto's strong arms grabbing hold of her shoulders. "Oops. We would want another incident at school again." Naruto said and immediately let go of her.

"Sorry it was my fault!" she squeaked out. Her cheeks turned pink. She recalled that it was her fault for Naruto transforming at him the last time.

The blonde boy in front of her was definitely upset. His clear blue eyes were looking franticly around. "Where did Kiba go?"

"Oh I think he's still in the lunchroom. I'm sorry about the way Kiba was acting towards you. He has a loud mouth-"

I wouldn't call him_ that_." Naruto angrily mumbled.

She winced slightly. Naruto wasn't going to like what she had to tell him. "I wanted to give you future notice on Tenten, Shino _and Kiba_ coming over to Kakashi's house this afternoon. I told Tenten that I was staying there with Sasuke and you. And she got upset."

"I get it." Naruto said, nodding his head. "She wants to see your crash pad."

"Yes. That would be a reason." Hinata somewhat told him.

She hoped that nothing would go wrong this afternoon.

* * *

O0oo0o0oo

Ya know I did realize something important about Kiba and Akamaru. Apparently, after the time skip Akamaru gets super huge! So if he's monster huge in the manga then I should have made him huge in this story. But in the end I decided to keep Akamaru small and cute, or otherwise the title wouldn't have been 'That Cute White Dog'.

Thanks to all your reviews. I'll be replying to the people that asked questions in their reviews using that new reply thingy.

Review the story; love it or hate it-comment in a review and tell if you want a response from me- I still like getting reviews!

Anywayz later : )

Oh yeah, next chappie soon be coming soon. Just needs to be edited. It's called 'Masked Weirdo! Part2 That Cute White Dog'.


	6. Masked Weirdo

_Summary: Running away from home, Hinata somehow ends up staying with Kakashi, Sasuke & Naruto. Many problems arise as she discovers their secret of transforming into zodiac animals when hugged by the opposite sex. naruhina & sasuhina. Based loosely on Fruits Basket_

Also this chappie is slightly similar to an eppie of Fruits Basket, with a twist. Ok so I promised that this chappie would be coming early, I was delayed, for many reasons. An overbearing school load and having to wait awhile to edit this chapter.

Well read and review!

(belated) Merry Christmas, Happy Boxing day and an early Happy News Years!

**O0o0**

**

* * *

**

T h e - A ni m a l – H o u s e

Chapter 6

Masked Weirdo!

Part2 That Cute White Dog

O0o0o0o

A disgruntled blonde rushed back to Kakashi's house. He closed the front door quietly.

Naruto threw his school bag in the foyer and kicked it beside the closet. He struggled to loosen his stupid tie from his neck and undid the buttons of his uniform shirt.

Kakashi was seated in the living room watching Naruto's favorite soap opera. He stared at the television, mesmerized.

"Brad got married to Kimberly? What the hell?" Naruto hollered. When did that happen? Last time he tuned in to watch the soap opera, Kimberly was in another love triangle and Brad was fighting with Brittany.

A stunned expression appeared on Kakashi's face when he finally realized that Naruto was in the house. "What are you doing back so early from school? And where's Sasuke and Miss Hinata?" Kakashi quizzically asked.

It was bought to his attention that it was the first time he did not walk to/from school with Sasuke or Hinata. He rolled his eyes that he broke the stupid rule. Right now, he couldn't have cared less. Naruto placed his hands behind his head, a brow raised. "Jeez, it was urgent... I came back early."

"Your excuse for leaving the vulnerable Miss Hinata with Sasuke all alone is...?" Kakashi turned to face Naruto; there was an odd sparkle in his one visible eye. Naruto knew Kakashi was leering at him. "And I bet you're not worried about him taking advantage of her!"

"Stop thinking of lecherous things about Hinata!" Naruto managed to say, his ears were pink. There was no way Sasuke would do anything like that, he was like a robot! "Because I came early to tell you that Hinata invited her friends to come over. I'm not going to stick around if Kiba is going to be here."

He gave the man a wave and left as quickly as he came.

_Kiba can go screw himself. _

* * *

Tenten glanced at the man, whose house she was visiting. She wasn't quite sure what to make of her host. The one word to describe him was peculiar. He had spiky silver hair. His face was covered by a mask and a hat was pulled low over face of his face. She had a strong urge to ask what was wrong with his face that he needed to cover himself up so much like that. 

It was like eye magnetism that she couldn't stop staring at the masked weirdo.

Hinata had taken Tenten, Shino and Kiba to see this place she was staying at after school. It had been an interesting trek though the woods to come upon a grand house. On their walk, Tenten had wondered what sort of person would possibly want to live in the woods. She now knew that a weirdo resided here.

Although, the house was nicely built and furnished from what her eyes could see. Antique furniture decorated the large home, strangely giving the place a warm atmosphere.

"HI," Tenten began when Shino and Kiba stayed silent beside her. Even the usually loudmouthed Kiba was quiet. She didn't quite think this plan over carefully. Her mind was so focused on Hinata and her living situation that she didn't put into consideration of the person she would be visiting. Hinata stood beside Shino and was nervously stretching her black sweater. The brown haired girl felt a little responsible for pushing Hinata to drag them all here to where she was staying.

She was curious to why Naruto and Sasuke weren't here.

"Sorry to barge in your _lovely home_ like this unexpectedly. I brought you a fruits basket," said Tenten, handing over the fruits basket.

She skipped fourth period to go buy a house warming present. Her parents had taught her to be respectful to her host. Tenten wasn't in the best mood... her thoughts were about an arrogant bastard that she wanted to beat up for saying such bad things to Hinata. _Damn Neji. _

Tenten glanced up as she realized their host was speaking to them. Oops, she let her mind wander again.

"--Kakashi Hatake. Nice to meet Miss Hinata's friends." He seized the fruits basket out of her clenched hands. Tenten wasn't sure if he was smiling or not under the mask.

"Hi." Kiba sullenly said.

Shino remained silent, except to lower his glasses to look at Kakashi. Tenten smirked as Kakashi flinched from the eye contact. Shino really did know how to give people the creeps. He ushered everyone to go in the living room.

"Kakashi? Your name sounds kinda familiar." Tenten mused.

"Really, now?" he asked in excitement. "It might be because I've written a few books of my own."

The silver haired man unexpectedly pulled a paperback novel out of his jacket. He threw it to her.

Taken aback, Tenten managed to catch it_. What the..._ Her brown eyes widened in recognition. She had seen this cover in a drug store with manyold ladies flocking around trying to read the book.

"You write this crap!" she hollered out.

"You're a writer! I never knew that." Hinata exclaimed sounding so cheerful. "I would love to read some of your work!"

A sudden bang came from the front door.

"You shouldn't." Naruto and Sasuke both muttered in union, entering the living room. The two were both gasping for air.

"What a dramatic entrance," Kakashi commented. "I knew you guys couldn't stay away from me!"

* * *

Sasuke scowled at the annoying man. He walked to sit by the coffee table.

"We got hungry." Naruto snappishly explained to everyone. The blond jumped over the couch to sit on the floor, by the television. The girl's friends were seated on the couches.

Sasuke hadn't walked Hyuuga and the idiot to Kakashi's after school. Instead, he optioned to stay and practice with the other members of the martial arts club. Sasuke had meet up with Naruto sitting by the rocks in the woods. They both didn't want to confront Tenten and her temper. The girl could get angrier than Sakura! But then, they figured it wasn't wise to leave Hyuuga alone with Kakashi's stupidity. So reluctantly, Naruto and Sasuke ended up racing back to Kakashi's house.

"Oh. I'll serve you guys' tea and refreshments." Hyuuga quickly said, getting up from her seat.

"Wait, I didn't mean you had to get food for us!" Naruto stammered idiotically.

She smiled at him." It's fine. I don't mind."

Sasuke stood up and walked with her to the kitchen.

"Why are you so serving to others?" he asked her. His charcoal eyes couldn't help but study her as she struggled to find clean cups and a teapot in the cupboards. Hyuuga looked so small and fragile, as if he touched her, she would break.

"Umm..." was her reply as her cheeks coloured.

"I mean, Kakashi's the host. He should be doing this crap." Sasuke muttered as he got himself a drink. He grinds his teeth in frustration. Why was it, every time he opened his mouth around her, he acted like a bastard towards her?

"It's the polite thing to do. I didn't even ask Mr. Kakashi if my friends could visit." She said.

Sasuke opened his mouth and closed it again. There was nothing he could say, without looking like a moron.

O0o0o

Sasuke emerged with a riceball in his hand, with Hyuuga following behind. She was struggling to carry a tray with a teapot and cups, and another tray filled with tuna sandwiches and chocolate biscuits.

Everyone sat around in silence, except for Naruto pigging out on sandwiches. Kakashi finally broke the silence, pulling out a deck of cards. "Let's play strip poker!"

"..." He received blank stares and dirty looks.

"What?" Kakashi asked innocently.

"You already tried suggesting that game before!" Naruto yelled.

Tenten looked at Kakashi with an odd expression upon her face. "Let's play President" she suggested.

"I'm not playing." said Sasuke. He continued munching on his riceball.

"Afraid of me beating you?" said Naruto tauntingly. He had a really annoying laugh.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I've changed my mind. I'm going to kick your ass at this game. You'll end up being the Jackass!" Their intense rivalry had resurfaced, this time over a card game.

Shino dealt the cards with the skills of a professional blackjack dealer. Everyone had 8 cards in their hand, except for Sasuke and Kiba, who ended up with only 7. "Does everyone know how to play?"

Kakashi raised his hand. "What are the rules again?"

"Okay, each of us has cards in our hand. The person with the three of spades starts first, and they may play one card or more, depending on the number of threes they possess. After that, we play clockwise. The next player must play the same number of cards as the previous person. "

Tenten put down two cards. "I'm going first since I have the three of spades, and Naruto is next. Since I played two cards, he has to put down two cards also. And the suits don't matter in this game, because that would make things too complicated. However, you must play cards that are of the same value or a higher value."

"The ranking system goes like this: the jokers are the highest and you only need one to trump any card, twos are the second highest and you only need one if doubles are played, 2 twos if triples are played...aces are next highest, then kings, queens, jacks, 10 and down all the way to three."

"Don't forget about Revolution! If four of a kind is played, then the whole ranking system is reversed, and the lowest cards will be the highest!" added Kiba (He had four eights in his hand and was waiting to use them).

O0o0o0o

After half an hour, it was down to Kiba and Naruto. The winner would be crowned Jack, while the loser would be Jackass. It was Naruto's turn. " I play a 10!" he said triumphantly. All he had left in his hand was now a Jack.

"Heh." Said Kiba as he placed the card he'd been reserving. "I play my ace! In your face shithead."

They played 2 other rounds of President, with Naruto losing each time and having to give up his highest cards to the President.

Shino, suspiciously, was made President each time, and Kakashi and Tenten both made vice-president.

"Let's play again," shouted Naruto angrily. He was Jackass three times in a row! And Sasuke was always neutral or Treasurer.

* * *

Kiba always liked the saying 'kill two birds with one stone'. His philosophy in life was to do things that would save him time later. He groaned to himself, as he was here on the front steps yesterday. Because of his nauseous jetlagged mind, he assumed he somehow ended up at the Hyuuga Compound when he had seen Hinata's face at the door step.

Kiba wandered around the huge house. He got lost on his way going to the bathroom. He only had been to Kakashi's a few times.

"Boo." Someone said behind his back.

"Ahh!" Kiba screamed somewhat girlishly. He turned to face the person. _Man._

"Yo. Kiba." Kakashi greeted him holding an orange book in his hand.

"_Yo_. Kakashi." Kiba mocked him, feeling aggravated. He should have sensed Kakashi behind him. Though Kiba wanted the man to go away, he wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Our dear Miss Hinata knows about us." Kakashi stated casually, leaning against the wall. Kakashi placed the book in his jacket and crossed his arms.

Kiba stared dumbfounded at him. He didn't comprehend Kakashi's words. "Us?"

"Yep. 'Us' as in we, the cursed ones. She's seen Sasuke, Naruto and I transform. I imagine she's never seen your other form or she wouldn't have been so shocked about it the first time." Kakashi declared. A finger tapped his chin in wonder. "She fainted the first time she saw us in our state, and Miss Hinata was so modest when we were naked. Any normal girl would have peeked while I was dressing..."

Kiba's blood chilled. His eyes widened. "Does Orochimaru know about her?"

Was Hinata the reason why he had to visit Kakashi when he came back from Disney World? He had a bad feeling when he heard from Tenten that Hinata was staying with Sasuke and his _uncle_.

Kakashi's face was hidden behind the mask; Kiba was still able to see the damn smirk on his face. "Of course everything has to go through Orochimaru. Otherwise Miss Hinata wouldn't still be here after the initial night of our meeting. She wouldn't remember anything about us."

Kiba faintly nodded and walked away from Kakashi.

He ignored the ruckus coming from the living room and instead used his nose to follow Hinata's scent to seek her out. She had left a few minutes ago and she hadn't returned. She was in a room that he presumed was her bedroom. Hinata was sitting on the bed; her head was lowered so that her hair blocked Kiba from seeing her face. In her hands she held the silver ring that he had seen her wear. The door was open and he walked in.

"Hi!" Kiba greeted her.

"G-geez K-kiba! I didn't see you, don't sneak up on me," she gasped in total surprise. He noticed she quickly placed the ring back on her finger. "Well this is my room!" she said after a moment of hesitation.

Kiba frowned. He wasn't exactly thrilled about Hinata's living arrangements. He couldn't smell Sasuke, Kakashi or Naruto in the room. That was a good thing at least. He never did ever go to Hinata's bedroom in the Hyuuga compound. Kiba did only visit the compound that one time and then he was banned forever. It sucked really, because Hinata's place was cool in a sort of gothic way.

"I have to tell you something...about stuff. Like a confession." He somewhat told her. Kiba awkwardly maneuvered himself on sit on her bed.

Hinata looked at him expectedly. "You can tell me...about stuff."

She really was too nice if she could tolerate Sasuke and Naruto. Kiba couldn't stand the repulsive Naruto. Kiba had been friends with Hinata since the beginning of high school. Kiba wouldn't have met Shino or Tenten without Hinata. They hung out frequently, however they didn't have heart to hearts. He wasn't a girl. "You see, I never told you this but I have a secret like Sasuke's. Kinda funny as I can't keep my mouth shut. Ya know when Akamaru comes to school, right? Well most of the time it wasn't him..."

"It wasn't?" Hinata asked in confusion. "Huh?" She looked in his eyes.

"Akamaru's at home most of the time. He doesn't like school very much." It was now or never to tell her, he took a deep breath before exhaling. "The dog you saw this morning was me."

"You? How? I mean-? I thought--? "

"Let me show you, now that I can finally hug you." Kiba smirked, as he impulsively wrapped his arms around her thin shoulders and he transformed.

* * *

**P O O F !**

The smoke cleared away.

"You look exactly like Akamaru or Kiba should I say. Another zodiac member!" She said in amazement. Kiba perched on the bed with his clothes scattered on the floor. Sasuke the tiger, Kakashi the rooster, Naruto the fox, Sakura the rabbit, Ino the pig and now Kiba the dog.

Hinata gently picked up the transformed Kiba and placed him on her lap. Her fingers raked his fur. "You don't mind, do you? That I'm petting you?" Hinata said with a slight blush on her face.

A horrifying thought crossed her mind. Was she manhandling Kiba by petting him? She hoped Kiba don't think she was manhandling him on purpose...

"Uhhh...no. what does that mean?" Kiba asked.

"Ne-never mind." She squeaked.

Kiba flashed her- literally- a puppy dog pout. It made her heart melt from the cuteness. "So you're not mad, right?"

"No. I understand why you didn't want to tell me about this. The idea of boys being able to change into dogs is _weird._" she paused for a moment, and began giggling. "But thanks for telling me the truth."

Her slate eyes noticed that Kiba's floppy white ears perked up. "You're welcome. How come ya here anyways? I mean you're stuck with _prince_ Sasuke and _Naruto_? Ewww."

Hinata frowned. She actually thought Naruto and herself were friends. Her relationship with Sasuke wasn't what she could consider friendship. There was still a tense feeling between them. "What's wrong with Naruto and... err Sasuke? Naruto is very nice and Sasuke...he's o-okay _I guess_." She defended them in her own lame way.

The cute white dog looked at her. "Sasuke is a spoiled brat and-and you know- Naruto is Naruto! I've known them since I was a baby." he tried to explain.

She sighed. "Kiba, I wish you would stop fighting with Naruto. He's a nice guy. Although I don't understand Sasuke, it's not nice to call him that." Hinata in a half whisper pleaded with him.

"Okay, okay. I'll stop getting into fights with Naruto, just for you." Kiba declared to her. He was always sweet to her. Hinata patted him on the head.

"Well don't worry too much about me, Kiba. I have to go home soon and make amends with father."

She felt a bit depressed now. Hinata was the heir of the Hyuuga family fortune. The so called 'Princess' of the company. It bothered her that she wasn't strong or courageous enough to confront her father. She couldn't keep hiding from her responsibilities forever.

* * *

Out of the corner of his visible eye, he saw Kiba and Hinata return to the living room. Kakashi smiled. _Kiba must have told Miss Hinata by now that he's member of the zodiac._

Kakashi was glad that the afternoon was going without any problems. He was concerned that something would happen by now.

"Finally Kiba you're back. Excuse me; I'm going to use the bathroom now." Tenten, Hinata's aggressive friend said. She got up to head out of the living room, when Naruto-sprawled on the floor-accidentally tripped her. She ended up landing on Naruto.

_Oh shit, I spoke too soon_, Kakashi thought as he winced.

**P O O F!**

Purple smoke covered the room. A loud crash was heard.

"Where did the smoke come from?" Shino asked once the smoke disappeared.

"I'm soooo sorry, Naru- Wait, where's Naruto?" Tenten asked as she got up from the floor. She glanced around the room, the blond was gone. Luckily the girl didn't notice the pile of clothing below her feet.

Kakashi, Sasuke and Hinata looked at each other helplessly. Kiba shrugged his shoulders. "I think he really had to barf. So ya know he ran off, after tripping you." Kiba lied to her.

"Umm... I think you hit Mr. Kakashi's box of cigars... and it uhhh... " Hinata trailed off. In her arms, she cradled an orange coloured fox. Fortunately Hinata was able to get to Naruto, in the distraction of the clouds of smoke. Her face was red from diving to get Naruto.

Everyone's eyes were on the fox. "Where did the fox come from?" Shino asked, he lowered his sunglasses to peer at the animal.

"Well look at that! It's Sasuke's pet fox, Kubey! How in the world did he get here?" Kakashi said in mock bewilderment.

Kiba quickly shifted himself closer to Sasuke and nudged him in the ribs. Sasuke glared at him. "Oh yes, it is my dumb pet fox, _Kubey_. Just dump him on the ground Hyuuga, the thing can walk back to my room."

"Oook then. I doubt foxes are suppose to be kept indoors." Tenten skeptically said.

Hinata carefully lowered Naruto on the floor. The fox turned to look at Sasuke, an evil grin about its face. Then he ran off to climb upstairs.

Kakashi waved dismissively to Tenten. He was going to have to do damage control. He only had two choices, wipe Tenten and Shino's memories of this incident or lie his ass off. Kakashi chose the latter. "Sasuke has such a caring soul. He found the little creature in the woods all injured. So he took him in the house, to heal him. And now Kubey just won't leave him alone. The two have bonded and become the best of friends."

He might have bullshitted a bit much, to sound believable. Sasuke glared at him. Kakashi maintained the appearance of being busy with his novel.

o0o0o

Shino stood beside Tenten and Kiba as they waved to everyone on the doorsteps. The tall brown haired girl smiled brightly. "Remember guys, if I hear _anything_ has happened to Hinata because of you guys, I'll murder _all_ of you! Bye!"

Kakashi, leaning against the door frame, painfully smiled back to Hinata's friends. If only they could see him flashing his hundred watt smile. He sighed in relief as Hinata's friends were gone from his house. His little housemates were all standing behind him.

"What nice friends you have Miss Hinata. That Shino kid is creepy though." Kakashi commented truthfully. He was getting shivers down his back thinking about it. When he found that bug near his cup of tea, the sunglasses wearing boy scooped the bug in his jacket.

Hinata nodded her head. She was nice girl with some strange friends. "Shino likes bugs. He's Shino."

_Like that explains anything about that kid. _

"Oww. Tenten fell on me so hard. I'm going to have a bruise for sure." Naruto complained rubbing his shoulder. The blond boy transformed back to a human half an hour later. He explained to the guests when he returned, that he had felt sick suddenly, and holed himself in front of the toilet incase he needed to vomit.

"I'll give you a bruise." Sasuke threatened him. "You moron, you almost blew our cover by tripping Tenten!"

Naruto grinned at Hinata. "It wasn't my fault. She walked over me! And thanks Hinata for picking me up. I got the feeling that Tenten would have stepped on me."

Sasuke blew up at Kakashi. "Thanks a lot. People are going to think that I like foxes and I have a stupid pet fox named Kubey!" he sarcastically said. It seemed like he was concerned about his image.

Kakashi strolled over to them; he patted Sasuke and Naruto on the head.

* * *

Orochimaruwas dissatisfied with Kiba Inuzuka's report on Hinata Hyuuga. The canine boy bowed 'respectfully' to him, before leaving his private room. There were pieces missing in the story that young Kiba told him. His nose twitched as he could nearly taste the fear rolling from the boy. 

He was finding it difficult in allowing this to go any further. The girl would not learn anymore about _his_ family. He slowly turned his head to his faithful Kabuto.

"I'm not feeling well."

"You should be lying down. Not sitting here by the windows and conversing with others. Your stress levels are too high."

"You're making me feel stressed!"Orochimaru yelled at him. His robe hung loosely on his cold thin shoulders. His pale fingers picked a vase sitting on the coffee table, and he aimed it for Kabuto's head. Unfortunately, it missed the man's head.

Kabuto pushed his black thick framed glasses up his nose. The doctor in training gathered up all the broken pieces of the fallen vase. He quietly disposed of the pieces in the trash, located across the room. "I can send Asuma in if you wish." He said completely ignoring Orochimaru's comment.

The pale skinned man frowned. No one was listening to him. "I want you to call back my dears Ino and Sakura. I have a very important task for them. It seems like I can't trust my Sasuke or Kakashi at the moment."

Orochimaru was going to have to take drastic actions soon.

* * *

Yeah. It's a bit shorter and the plot seems pretty sloooow. When I originally thought about this story, the plot would be moving a lot faster than it is now. I actually liked this chappie, something seems missing though... Next chappie should be much longer and explain more about Hinata's reasons for leaving. There will actually be romance and Shikamaru will appear. 

Thanks to **Moonlit3 Mistress **and** Cindydemon tamer **for adding the part about the card game and editing!

Thanks to all that reviewed the last chapter. Tell me if you want a specific reply to your review.

Review!

Anywayz later : )


	7. Welcome Back

_Feb.12.06: It's been a while. Busy with my exams. But I'm now done my exams! _

_**August 22, 2006: It's now edited! Yeah for all those who read it, and couldn't stand the horrendous grammar mistakes, so sorry, so read it again if you wanna (review again, if you wanna).** _

_Typing skills have gotten slower now... I type less words per min. than I use to!_

_Oh yeah Sai makes a small appearance. If you have no idea who the heck he is, well he's a new character from the current arc of the Naruto manga. No worries I won't spoil anything for anyone about him. _

_p.s. several people have hinted that Akito (from Fruits Basket) is really a girl, well I have no info on that and I shall keep Orichimaru's gender a boy- even if in the manga/anime we find who that he' s really a creepy female. _

Read and Review

O0o0o0o

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**T h e - A n i m a l - H o u s e **

**Chapter 7**

Welcome Back

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Sasuke rolled his eyes at the inane comment the blond bimbo just made.

"That'll happen when pigs fly." He retorted.

"It's true! I saw it on tv!" Naruto argued with him. Naruto waved his arms around animatedly.

"Was it a soap opera or some other lame ass show you enjoy watching?"

Sasuke was finding it to be too easy making fun of the blond.

"Hey! Soap operas are highly entertaining and millions of other people tune in every afternoon to see what happens."

"Yeah, millions of old ladies and yourself."

Sasuke and Naruto were slowly walking into the house. Kakashi had somewhat kicked them out of the house for fighting. Kakashi told them to take it outside. So that was what they did.

They sparred for an hour or so (it wasn't like Sasuke worn a watch) before deciding to return. Sasuke found Naruto annoying and the only solution he knew to shut up the Kyuubi container was to beat the crap out of him. However, it seemed his plan didn't work and Sasuke was all sweaty now. He narrowed his dark eyes as Naruto was continuously chatting. The blonde didn't even look tired, and Sasuke started having a hard time breathing.

Sasuke was spending a lot more time with Naruto and Hyuuga than he really wanted to. He was content with being by himself and not interacting with anyone. When Hyuuga made dinner for everyone, he was forced to sit at the dinner table with everyone else if he wanted to eat. Surprisingly, the pampered princess made great food.

"Well, I need a shower now." Naruto announced as they entered the house.

"I need one more than you do. It's not like you shower the rest if the week anyway, so I'll go first."

"Hey, I _take_ a shower every day. I take one early in the morning. You wouldn't notice because you're still drooling in your sleep when I do shower! Don't you have a bathroom in your room anyways?" Naruto remarked.

They both ended up racing up the stairs to see out who would shower first.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He was going to have to carefully word what he was saying. "I don't have the privilege of a shower. Kakashi has the master bedroom with the 'three piece bathroom suite' as he likes to call it. It's off-limits to me. Besides I don't want to go to the pervert's room."

They both argued unrelentingly with each other when the door to the bathroom opened.

Sasuke's mouth opened. He was frozen in place, transfixed.

There she stood_naked_ wrapped only in a towel. All his stupid mind could think was that she had really creamy skin. His dark eyes automatically moved to check her out. Wait, what the hell was he doing looking at her lean legs?

His eyes finally came upon Hyuuga's face and she looked back at him, before she ran to her room. His face turned pink. Naruto, Sasuke noticed was as red as well. Sasuke felt like the biggest pervert in the world, checking out Hyuuga of all people... thinking of her like that...

"I think I'm going to chance going to Kakashi's room to take a shower." Naruto finally said to break the silence that was in the hallway. The blond scratched his neck, uncomfortably. "I really need one."

"Yeah, I'm to the basement to take a shower. I really need one too. I'm really sweaty." Sasuke uttered to Naruto before he headed to the basement.

O0o0o0o0o0

Hinata's face flushed red as she slammed the bedroom door closed. She stood behind the door and locked it. In mortification, she covered her burning face with her hands. And she was still naked in her towel.

She couldn't believe that Naruto and Sasuke saw her almost naked. Why did she have to take a shower during _that_ time? For the past two weeks and a half, the three of them had been able to live without any embarrassing situations occurring until now. Hinata was insecure about her body image. She didn't even go swimming publicly; fearing that people might think she wasn't curvy enough or her legs were too short. Her father constantly criticized her over not being strong enough compared to Neji or to her younger sister Hanabi.

Perhaps it was some sort of cosmic payback from when she first met Naruto and Sasuke. The initial time she had glimpsed them in their transformed animal forms, without the purple smoke and her quick reaction to covering her eyes, she would have seen a lot of their bodies while transforming back into their human states.

In record time she managed to get dressed in a baggy sweatshirt and jeans. Hinata couldn't face either Sasuke or Naruto at the moment.

She had been contemplating for some time now about home...

Walking to the little dresser by the bed, Hinata picked up her cell phone with shaky fingers. She bit her lip nervously as she dialed the numbers for the Hyuuga Compound.

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The damn class finally ended.

Shikamaru Nara leisurely got up from his seat. He shuffled behind the other students. He placed his hand over his mouth to stop yawning. Man was he tired. The university course he was taking was boring as hell.

"Shikamaru and Temari! I want to speak with you two for a second." The professor shouted to him, waving from behind his little podium stand thingy (like he knew what it was called).

_How troublesome... I have to walk all the way back to the teacher. _

Sighing a bit, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and strolled over to his short teacher who was standing in the far end of the auditorium like room. His eyes caught a girl walking towards the teacher. The 'Temari' person apparently was a tall dark blond girl. Her hair was held up in four pigtails and she liked to wear mesh.

"Yeah teacher?" the girl asked. She placed her hands on her hips, a stance that strangely reminded him of Ino when she was pissed at him.

Shikamaru nodded his head at the professor, feeling too lazy to even talk.

"I must say, the two of you did excellent on your reports. I'm giving both of you A plus. Gooooooood work!" the professor enthusiastically (a bit too much energy for Shikamaru) and congratulated the Temari girl and himself.

Shikamaru raised a brow in amazement. Hmm... He didn't even try at writing the boring thing.

The brown haired teen was apparently a 'genius'. He had skipped a grade in the ninth grade. But then Shikamaru had been urged by his teacher to join advanced classes. So in advanced classes, it was easy for him, when he actually did the work assigned to him. After that, he was recommended to take university courses. His opinion of university was that it wasn't very mentally stimulating for him either.

However, it wasn't his decision to attend the University of Konoha. His pushy mother made him. There had been no way he had could say no to his pushy mother. Shikamaru had been content with going the all boys' school in the company of his best friend Choji Akimichi. Going to U of K was somewhat lonely. He didn't easily make friends that could withstand his lazy attitude. Hell, even Ino, the bossiest girl in the world, could hardly tolerate him sometimes.

"And Temari, you have improved so much from the beginning of the semester. I totally love the style of your writing. I think Shikamaru---," the teacher pointed at him, "--you could learn something from Temari and vice versa. If you both worked together you would have a great project. Remember, think about the group assignment and who you should work with!" the professor not so subtlety hinted at them. The man's excitement for the lazy teen was starting to get to Shikamaru.

"Sure, yeah. I'll consider working with her." Shikamaru drawled. He couldn't wait to leave the room. It was a Saturday and he was struck in school. _UFK sucks._

Temari suddenly glared at him. He blinked in confusion. _Okay, what did I just say to piss her off?_

"I got go now Teach. Oh yeah Shit-whatever ever your name is, _I'll consider_ working with you." The girl venomously said and stalked angrily out of the room.

"My name's Shikamaru, nice to meet you too." He mumbled under his breath. To the professor, he replied, "I should be leaving now."

"You're not very smooth with the ladies but aaaaalllrigthie! Bye!" the teacher waved to him.

Shikamaru nodded his head. _Girls are way too troublesome. Teachers are way too stupid to mind their own business. _

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Hinata managed to survive the rest of Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning without running into Sasuke or Naruto. There had been an apologetic expression on her face as she explained to Kakashi that she would be unable to perform her duties of cleaning and cooking. She felt horrible for lying to him. She was able to sneak into the kitchen early in the morning when Naruto was out and Sasuke was still asleep. It had been the only time she could eat.

As quietly she as she could, she tiptoed down the stairs. Neither zodiac member was around. Her ears could hear clanking coming from Kakashi's office. She was going to have to read one of Kakashi's novels one day.

Hinata quickly jotted down on a pad that she would be out for a few hours and return before seven. It was an ambiguous note.

Walking out of the woods and onto the busy streets, Hinata hailed for a taxi.

Oo0o

Hinata generously gave the cab driver a big tip. She thanked him and stepped out of the taxi in on the corner of Daichi Street. The neighborhood didn't permit foreign cars on the streets. She would rather walk to the Hyuuga Compound then get hassled by everyone.

"Hinata Hyuuga. I haven't seen you in a while."

"Ooh hello...Sai." Hinata's voice faltered. She was speechless.

Sai placidly leaned against the lawnmower. Sai lived in the mansion nearest to the Hyuuga Compound, so she supposed that they were neighbors in some sense. What caught her grey orbs was the unique outfit that he wore. She couldn't quite describe it properly; it was a black shirt that bared his midriff and the sleeves were different sizes and a pair of black shorts. It was the end of November and it was freezing outside.

"Like my shirt?" he slyly asked her. Now that Hinata thought about it, Sai vaguely looked a bit like someone...who it was she couldn't quite put her finger on...

"Of course. It's just not something I would wear. But it does look very nice on you!" She rambled on. She wasn't well acquainted with her neighbor. She didn't want to question Sai's taste in clothing and be rude to him. The baring midriff top did indeed look nice on him. It showed off his flat six pack abs.

Hinata virtually knew nothing about him. He had come up to her, and introduced himself as Sai. Hinata hadn't actually seen Sai's family members since he moved in the beginning of September. What was his last name? And there was also the mystery of which school Sai attended...

"I should get back to mowing my lawn. I'll let you continue back home. Really though, I haven't seen you in awhile." Sai said and gave Hinata a fake smile. There was something false in the way he smiled at her. His dark eyes lacked any emotions as he gazed at her.

"Err... I've been camping and ... and uh I have to go now!" Hinata murmured and turned away from him.

In a dead tone Sai said to her, "good luck with your family."

She nearly stumbled before heading over to her own home.

The Hyuugas owned three acres of land. The sprawling estate was surrounded by grand trees and the garden was beautiful. An indoor swimming pool and a tennis court were located in the backyard. The estate contained a huge amount of room and there was a guest house nearly has big as the Hyuuga Compound, in which half of Hinata's extended family lived to serve the Main Branch - Hinata's immediate family, her father, her sister and herself. She didn't like using the term, 'branch family'. It was unfair, essentially, they were all of the same blood, and they should have been treated equally. However she would not speak to her father about her apprehensions.

There was a sense of impending doom when she came closer to the Hyuuga Compound. Hinata dreaded coming back. She stood in front of the gates. Pushed a button to the intercom for the guards to allow her in.

Using her own key she entered the estate. She was suddenly pulled into the mansion.

Three members of the branch family, women that Hinata did not know the names of, ushered her into the parlor. They took her coat and a glass of water was handed to her. Hinata politely accepted the water. "Umm...thank you really. I should see my father now."

"Oh dear, you've only just gotten here..."

"Yes, and Hiashi is in another meeting at the moment. It may be another hour before you are able to see him." The other woman told her briskly.

Disappointment. She had called to tell her father that she would be coming this afternoon and he still couldn't put aside time to see his eldest daughter. She swallowed inaudibly. "I'll wait in my room until father calls me."

The three women smiled at her. Hinata cracked a fake smile at them before she headed up the grand staircases leading to the bedrooms. The third floor was where most of the 'branch family' resided or in the guest house out back.

The Hyuuga Compound was most like a museum than a house where actual people lived in. The hallways were filled with priceless antiques, which allowed no small children to run around like they should have. There was a black or white colour scheme in each room. Kiba once called the mansion to be "gothic and cool looking".

A small smile came upon her face when she fondly remembered the time Kiba, Shino and Tenten came to visit in the ninth grade. Kiba was always his boisterous and energetic self, and had accidentally knocked down an expensive vase, and in his attempts to grab it, he ended up saving the vase but breaking the table. Kiba and Tenten were in the living room and somehow the television was ended up cracked and on fire. Hinata's father had kicked him out of the house and forever banned him from visiting ever again.

Hinata froze as she was about to past her sister's room, at the same time the girl exited her room. Hanabi stopped in front of her, garbed in her training outfit. "I heard you were coming back. I didn't think you would actually be here. I've wondered... where did you run away to?" The twelve year old girl spoke to her.

Hinata flinched.

There was coldness to her voice that was akin to Neji's tone when he was forced to speak with her. Was Hanabi always like this? Unlike Neji, the coldness wasn't that Hanabi hated her.

They were two very distant sisters, with nothing in common. She admired Hanabi. She thought that they were near opposites in personalities. Hanabi was praised for continuous efforts to excel at everything. She did excel at nearly everything. Hyuugas were supposed to be the best at everything. It was only Hinata that failed at the things she attempted. Hanabi could raise her head with pride while Hinata lowered hers.

"I thought it was time for me to return home." Hinata replied. She didn't want to explain to her younger sister where she had been all the time she had gone away.

Her sister gave her a scoff. "Welcome back sis. It was boring when you weren't around." She said it with fake sincerity.

Hinata didn't even blink. "It's nice to be back." She said with the same fake sincerity.

O0o0o0

She had been gone for nearly two weeks and it was like living in another world at Kakashi's home.

Her grand bedroom no longer felt like it was hers. Before she left, she had frantically packed pieces of clothing in her bag. Her clothing was flung all over the floor and it was all tidy and cleaned up now. The servants had been in her room and touched her things. It may have been paranoia, but Hinata disliked when people came into her room. It was her private sanctuary and she was capable of cleaning herself.

She sat on her canopy bed. Hinata was restless and the speakers from the plasma television hanging from the wall were blaring loudly.

A knock signaled for Hinata to come greet her father. "Miss Hinata, your father is now available to see you." A servant told her.

Hinata nodded her head and muttered a 'thank you'.

She carefully pressed the wrinkles of her skirt out. Her father was going to criticize her for something. Sighing, Hinata tentatively entered her father's office.

Hiashi glanced up from his desk. He was regally seated in his office chair. He indicated for her to sit in the seat across from him. Hinata bowed to him with respect before she obediently sat down in front of him. "You called me for a meeting."

It was a statement not a question. There was no concern for her well being. Hiashi was always straight to the point.

It had been troubling Hinata for some time now, which her father didn't call her to find out where she had been. No one in her family had contacted her for the three weeks she had been gone.

"F-father. In my absence I've been staying with a few people..."

How would she explain that she had been living with two teenage boys and a twenty-something year old man? She played with her fingers, having difficulty to tell him the partial truth.

Hiashi appeared disinterested in what she was saying, peering at some records. Hinata could clearly see the Hyuuga company crest on the documents. "Your credit cards were unused, so I assumed you weren't staying in a hotel."

Hinata wasn't sure as how much she could tell her father without him getting furious at her. "The people were nice enough to let me stay over, however I thought it was time for me to return. I've been staying with Kakashi Hatake, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki in the forest-"

Her father glanced up, slightly startled at the mention of the names. His white eyes stared at her. "Hatake, Uchiha and Uzumaki... have you noticed anything peculiar about those three?"

She was startled by the question. She assumed her father would have been angered by her living with three males. It wasn't the reaction she thought he would have. "No. of course not." She lied to him.

_They're just cursed members of the zodiac, father. And Naruto can change into a fox. That's all. _

"I don't care where you are, as long as you do not spoil the Hyuuga name. Christmas day is vital to the Hyuuga fortune. You better be there on that day to seal the contract." Her father said to her with indifference. He picked up a pen and wrote something down on a pad of paper.

Her head lowered to cover her face. Tears threatened to fall from her grey eyes. Hinata automatically touched the onyx ring. "F-father..." she quietly whispered.

"We have had this discussion before your little disappearance. You will follow the rules or you will be banished from here again."

Her father and she sat in silence for a moment.

Hinata bit her lip. Her father didn't understand that she wouldn't be happy if this agreement was signed. _He_ wouldn't be happy. The contract would only lead to their unhappiness. Her only desire was that he be spared from it. . She wanted to stand on her own two feet and follow her own path. And somehow, she thought that running away she could change things. She couldn't. Hinata wanted to have the strength to yell, scream, or protest to her father how she couldn't take the pressure and responsibilities of being the heiress to the Hyuuga Corporation. Except she kept her mouth shut because she didn't possess that strength.

The petite girl thought back to how she met the others. Things were different three weeks ago. She yearned to learn more about the cursed zodiac members. She couldn't now.

Tiredly, Hinata nodded her head in agreement.

She discreetly wiped the tears that were threatening to flow. Despite the situation, she loved her father. She loved her family. Hinata was taught to place her family above herself. The contract was the only way the heir would be useful to her family. She would not be a disgrace to her family any more.

"I need you to speak with Neji afterwards about where you were living." Her father ordered her. He pressed a button on the intercom.

"Y-yes father."

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The weekend had been agonizing. Sasuke stayed in his room all day. The mini-fridge provided that he had enough food. Sasuke and Kakashi had never bothered to talk or interact much until Hyuuga and Naruto arrived in the house. Now, he had to eat dinner with everyone else.

So there Sasuke sat on the front steps of the house. It was late November and his dark hair was flying to3wards his face. But he needed some fresh air from being cooped up all weekend. He had no idea where the others were. As long as they didn't annoy him, he was fine. Sasuke hadn't had dinner yet and he was starving for something other than a poptart.

A figure was walking towards him in the as the sun was setting. He squinted and realized that it was the Hyuuga girl. She had gone out? He blushed slightly and averted his eyes away from her. Sasuke couldn't get the image of her out of his mind. He felt like an idiot.

"Hi." She dully greeted him, stopping in front of him. Her shoulders were slumped and somehow she did not have that fucking elegance that he immensely disliked about her. Something happened to her.

"...hey." he responded.

"Is Mister Kakashi still inside? I need to speak with him. I-I won't be staying here any longer." She told him.

Did he hear her properly?

"What?" his voice sounded strained to his own ears.

In the beginning, he pitied her. He agreed with Kakashi because it wasn't his house to let her stay over. The plan didn't seen so terrible to let her live here in exchange for her to clean and cook. Sasuke hadn't particularly liked her then and he still didn't really like her now. Hyuuga was quiet and the only two redeeming qualities about her were she was able to do housework and she didn't have a stupid inane crush on him.

"I'm here to get my things. I think it's time for me to return home. "

"Why don't you stay a bit longer?" the words escaped his mouth.

Sasuke couldn't ignore her when she was around him. He hadn't treated her very _nicely_... He might have not liked her, though for some reason he would feel her presence gone if she left the lonely house.

The girl looked at him. Her pale eyes shimmered in the dark. Sasuke's hand reached out to grab hers to pull her to sit beside him on the front steps.

"There was a reason why you left the Hyuuga compound. Did you really resolve your problems with them?"

"...no I didn't." she finally said. Sasuke avoided looking at her. "I can't stay here... W-why do you even care?"

_Why do _I_ even care? What am I suppose to say? _

A rustle in the bushes.

Sasuke stood rigid as he could suddenly detect Naruto's presence. The aura was powerful...

"Oy, Hinata? Sasuke?" the blond dobe called out somewhere. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, to use his feline senses to see him. Naruto waved from his perch on a tree. What the fuck was Naruto doing?

"H-hi." she called out to him. Naruto managed to race back to where they were sitting.

"whatcha guys doing?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes; _Naruto sure knows how to spoil the moment_. Getting Hyuuga to stay here himself wasn't going to work. "Naruto, _she _wants to leave Kakashi's place. Convince her to stay."

Naruto cocked his head, looking at her. "We need you. Sasuke and Kakashi are incredible slobs and without you they wouldn't survive. At least be here a little longer...Besides won't you miss me if you go?"

In the near darkness, Naruto gave her a huge smile. Hyuuga shyly smiled back at him. Her eyes had brightened once Naruto came. "...Okay... I'll be here for a little longer if Mister Kakashi will let me stay."

Sasuke stood up scowling. _What the hell was that? _"Yeah, Kakashi loves having you around. He's 'amused by all of us'. Let's go inside the house now."

They all entered the living room. He paused when he felt Hyuuga's hand on his arm. Sasuke turned to look at her and noticed that her other hand was on Naruto's shoulder. "Umm... could we just forget about the fact that you guys almost saw me n-n-naked?" she awkwardly asked them, her face was red.

"Yeah of course." He might have been pissed, although Sasuke couldn't help but give her a smirk. He was enjoying making her stutter.

"It's out of my mind." Naruto grinned at her. "You know, it's only fair to see you naked since you've seen us naked!"

I–I-I h-ha-ave not!" Hyuuga stammered. "T-the purple smoke covered the lower portions of your bodies! And I swear I didn't look!"

Sasuke and Naruto gave each other a dubious look.

"If you don't believe me then I'm not making dinner." The petite girl threatened then. She crossed her arms around her chest.

"Fine I believe you."

"I believe you! Pleeeease make dinner."

O0o0o0o0o0o0o

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O0o0o0o0o

**The edited version (if you didn't read the author's note at the beginning of the chapter)!**

Man I had horrible writer's block for this chappie. (I got distracted by watching the whole Full Metal Alchemist series and the FMA movie instead of typing... I love FMA!) FMA is on YTV (a Canadian tv network)!

Was Sasuke OOC? I think he was... I would Love it if people reviewed and gave me their input if they liked it or hated it.

The final pairings for this fic wouldn't be revealed until the last few chapters, so if you think that Hinata is going to end up with someone, you may be surprised at the end.

**Chapter 8 is titled: "Ino vs. Neji!"**  
the focus will be on Sakura, Ino and Neji. I love Neji and Ino.

Anywayz later : )


	8. Ino vs Neji

if you would like to read the **edited version of chapter 7**, go ahead. Some minor changes were made.

Uhh...pairing-wise it's still undecided... nothing will be clear until the end. So muhahahaha!!

Did I say that this chapter would come out faster? Maybe I did and I lied. It took me 5 months to get this chapter on . Can you believe that it's been a year since I posted this fic? And I've only gotten to chappie 8 –I HAD planned to post once a month but that plan was screwed.

The points of view of Sakura, Ino, Neji.

Those three will be having a bigger role in this fic. And there shall be much future interaction between Ino and Neji (I love Neji).

Anywayz read and review!!

O0o0o0o

**T h e - A n i m a l - H o u s e**

**Chapter 8**

**Ino versus Neji**

Sakura gave her new school uniform a once over. A long black skirt, a black cardigan over a white buttoned shirt. Black wasn't Sakura's favorite colour. Or at least it wasn't a colour she should wear completely. _It makes me look gothy!_ She gritted her teeth over Konoha Academy monochrome's uniform colours.

She flipped pink tresses out of her eyes. Staring in the mirror, Sakura fixed her hair by adding a clip. Unlike the other girls' school she had been to, Konoha allowed her to accessorize her dull uniform.

To pull her dull uniform together, she put on her knee high black boots. The boots Sakura absolutely loved. They made her legs look longer and eyes immediately turned to look at her. But really there was only one person whose eyes mattered to her...

"Sakura!" her mother yelled at her from downstairs. "Ino's waiting outside with Shikamaru!"

_Oh crap! I need more time! _

"Coming!" she yelled back. Quickly picking up her bag, Sakura exited her bedroom. She rushed down the stairs to grab a piece of toast. The girl quickly chewed and swallowed in a minute.

"You know, honey, it's not healthy to eat like that... at least have a glass of milk before leaving." Sakura's mother lectured her. The elder Haruno woman was making a cake for her get-together with Ino's mom.

Sakura rolled her eyes at her mother. Yeah, she knew her mother only cared, but she was always getting lectured to death. "Okay, okay," she muttered, gulping down a glass of milk. "Happy now?"

"Of course!" Sakura's mother smiled at her.

"Bye now!"

"Later honey."

Sakura hurried to get out the door of her house, she spotted Shikamaru and Ino parked in front of her house. "Sorry!" the pink haired girl apologized to Shikamaru as she entered the back seat of the green vehicle.

"So troublesome." The spiky haired driver complained. He started the engine and mumbled under his breathe. "Whatever, you're lucky I didn't have a class today."

It really was nice of Shikamaru to give Ino and herself a ride to school. Somehow Ino always managed to convince Shikamaru to do whatever she wanted. Or maybe he was too lazy to protest against her annoying whining.

"Were you attempting to cover that big forehead of yours?" Ino snidely said to her, turning around to face the backside. Ino's light blond hair was partially covering half of her face and the rest of her hair was tied in a high ponytail. But the hairstyle actually looked good on her.

_Ack! I can't think of anything mean to say to her_, thought Sakura frantically.

"No, _Ino-pig_ I wasn't." Sakura said. However, Sakura's favorite nickname for her former best friend could usually get her riled up. Ino's huffed and leaned forward of car to lunge at Sakura. But the stupid pig momentarily failed to remember that she had her seatbelt on.

"Ino, I'm driving. I don't need to get another accident caused by you guys." Shikamaru reminded them as he pulled Ino back.

He rolled his eyes at the two of them.

"Sorry Shika." Ino muttered under her breath.

Sakura smirked at the other girl.

O0o0o0o

She glanced at the headmistress of her new school. The woman had an air of power about her that Sakura had to admire.

Her emerald eyes wandered around the large office. Her desk on the other hand... there were bottles of sake littering the messy desk that the woman sat behind of. She wondered what the older woman's bust size was...

_They can't be real..._

"Nice to meet you, Headmistress Tsunade," she politely greeted her. Ino shot her a look.

"I'm honored to have you as the headmaster of this school." Ino slickly said a huge grin on her face.

_Why is she always trying to one-up me?! Stupid Ino-pig. She should be renamed Ino-jackass. _

Most of the time, their tentative friendship was more of a rivalry between each other. Ino and Sakura were always in competition with each other over the stupidest things and it had first started out with fighting for Sasuke's attention.

"Well Orochimaru called me." The headmaster had a tight lipped smile on her face. Sakura's smile faltered for a slight moment from hearing Orochimaru's name. "He thought it was important that his 'two favorite girls' should attend this school. Although it's nearly the end of November I made an exception for you two. So I expect great things from you guys."

Ino and Sakura nodded their heads. Sakura, academically, was the better student although Ino was a natural athlete. Sakura just didn't have Ino's ability to be quick on her feet_. _"We will work hard." Ino promised the headmistress. They would prove their worth here.

_Knock. Knock._

"Come in." Tsunade ordered. A young woman opened the door and in her arms she carried a small pig. Short dark hair and a pretty face. "Hey Shizune. Did you bring the liquor?"

The pig suddenly jumped out of Shizune's arms and leaped on Ino's lap. The blond girl lovingly patted the creature on the head. No surprise that the pig was drawn to Ino. The same situation would have occurred if there were rabbits in the area. They would be following Sakura everywhere. Every zoidiac member had a infinity for the animal they transformed into.

"Oh Tonton likes you!" Shizune distractedly smiling widely at the interaction between the two pigs. "Well err Kon refuses to sell you anymore until you pay the debt you own him."

"I told him last week that I would get him the money after I play a round at the club. I'll win for sure this time." The headmistress said and with a flick of her hand she dismissed the girls. "Okay okay, you two can leave now and take your schedules with you. Me and Shizune have something very important to discuss."

O0o0o

Getting officially enrolled in the Academy had taken most of first period and so they had simply went straight to second period. "We so need to transfer our classes if we have nothing with Sasuke or even Kiba or Naruto! I'm dying in Math." Ino complained to Sakura as they navigated around their new school while they attempted to find the lunch room.

"True." Sakura said in agreement. Anxious all morning, she had remained quiet letting Ino do all the talking. Still, she couldn't believe she was acting civil to Ino.

They finally made it to the lunch room after spending time searching for the damn place.

The peace between them, however, didn't last long. Jade orbs gleamed as she spotted the one person who could make her heart stop. Sakura had been in love with him since she was younger.

_Sasuke. _

The dark haired teen was in the line for food. His back was facing them.

Sakura was just about to call him when Ino got to Sasuke first. The damn blond ran behind him, and jumped on his back. Ino wrapped her arms around Sasuke's pale neck. It almost looked like Sasuke was giving Ino a piggy back ride...

"Sasuke!!" she said in delight.

"What the hell?!" Sasuke yelled out, scowling. He staggered for a moment before regaining his balance with a hundred-and-something pounds Ino on his back. Sasuke's ebony eyes widened in shock, as he turned his head to face Ino. "Get off me Ino. Or I'll drop you." He coolly said to her.

Ino laughed at his idle threat and clung even tighter. "If you drop me, I'll kill you. Also, I'm not letting go of you, so dropping me would only result in me choking you."

The pink haired girl was immobile. Her mouth hung open. Involuntarily her right hand curled into a fist.

_How the fuck dare that Bitch touch Sasuke?! I'm going to slap her!_

"Shit fine." Sakura noticed that Sasuke rolled his eyes at her. His hand moved under Ino's ass to insure that Ino wouldn't slip.

_Oh my... his hand is on her ass! Ino must be loving this. That bitch!_

She realized that Sasuke and Ino had drawn most the attention of most of the students in the cafeteria. People were definitely staring. Sakura unclenched her fist, and calmly flattened her skirt. The best thing to do was to not react to Ino's little 'piggy-back' with Sasuke. If she yelled and fought Ino-Pig now, it would look petty and immature. Sakura wanted to make a good impression for her peers. In a matter of seconds their reputation would have been ruined. Sakura was partly jealous of Ino and her flirty behavior. Yes, Ino had told Sasuke several times how she felt about him, but she had yet to make any attempts to boldly express her feeling towards the brooding tiger. Unlike Ino, Sakura wasn't daring or reckless enough to do what Ino just did now.

Instead, she walked up to Sasuke with a grinning Ino still sitting on his back. Blushing, Sakura gave Sasuke a shy smile. "Hi Sasuke, surprised to see us, huh?"

She glared at Ino and the girl stick her tongue at her! However Sasuke frowned at her. His eyes wandered down her body, assessing her outfit. Her school outfit.

_He doesn't look happy to see me..._

"Sakura! Ino! Sasuke-Bastard!" a familiar voice yelled out. Sakura turned her head to the source of the annoying sound. Naruto eagerly waved his hand at the table where he was seated. "Come here!"

She cringed when she saw the orange faded jacket, Naruto often wore. The jacket was too tacky looking for Sakura's taste. Sakura hesitatingly waved back at him.

"Let's go over there! Sasuke, move your legs." Ino ordered him.

'I'm going to murder you Ino' Sakura mouthed to her, when Sasuke turned away. Ino sneered and gave her the finger.

Sasuke walked to Naruto's table where Kiba, no surprise, sat the farthest away from him. Hinata was seated beside Kiba and two other people who Sakura had no idea were. "Okay I'll get off now." Ino said dramatically, and slid off of Sasuke.

"Sit, you guys sit!" Naruto said. Ino plopped her noisy self near Naruto. Before Sakura could sit, Sasuke wrenched her arm and dragged her to the corner of the lunch room.

He leaned closer to her. "What the hell are you doing here at _my_ school?" he hissed in her ear.

"Last time I heard you didn't own this school. Naruto and Kiba came here as well. You don't seem to have a problem with them." Sakura pointed out and she bit her lip, his reaction was unexpected.

"Kiba and I don't talk or interact at school. Naruto and I always have problems with each other. The moron is also staying with Kakashi. You two are supposed to be attending an all girl school." His voice sounded calm yet she knew he was trying to control his anger.

She was a bit pissed that Sasuke wasn't all glad to see her here. It wasn't the sort of concern that she wanted from Sasuke. Normally Sasuke wasn't this furious towards her. Sakura could handle indifference but not hatred. She wondered if that Hinata girl was watching them. Since the visit to Kakashi's house, there was a change in Sasuke's eyes that had to be due to Hinata. No way was Hinata taking Sasuke away from her.

"We got the opportunity to come Konoha. I thought it would be interesting with all five of us here. Going to the same gender school can be very boring. You remember that right?" she asked him.

Orochimaru instructed them to go to Sasuke's school and monitor him. Ino and Sakura quickly agreed- they couldn't have disobeyed if they wanted to. Despite being his little tools, it allowed them to get closer to Sasuke and they always wanted to go to a regular school. The only thing Orochimaru wanted was that they never to Sasuke that mentioned he orchestrated for them getting into Konoha Academy.

Sasuke didn't respond to Sakura's question. "whatever." He muttered as he combed through his dark hair in frustration. He left the seat beside her and instead went to sit with one of the strangers. Sakura had always been painfully shy and had never been very good with strangers. The pink haired girl had a tendency to say the wrong things or embarrass herself in from of unknown people.

Naruto flashed Sakura a bright smile. And in return she gave him a small smile. Sakura up to this point had not quite considered what going to the same school with Naruto meant...

Despite the grungy orange jacket over his crisp white shirt, at a closer glance, Naruto looked _decent_ in Konoha Private Academy's school uniform. It made the fox seem a bit more mature than he normally acted. Green eyes moved to the person who was sitting comfortably beside Naruto. Hinata carefully bit into her sandwich and a notebook was open in front of her. There was something different in her grey eyes with the knowledge of the zodiac members. The timid girl said hello to her.

"Hey." Sakura said after she realized she was staring at Hinata.

Orochimaru was right. They couldn't trust Hinata. He also wanted Ino and herself to watch Hinata Hyuuga. It wasn't a coincidence that _her_ family was involved. Sakura was doing to carry out her assignment and observe the girl.

* * *

Impatiently, Ino tapped her foot on the linoleum floor. Ino waited for Sakura once again outside the washroom door. Sakura wanted to observe the Martial Arts Club which Sasuke was part of. So hence, the girl needed to go powder her face or something to look nice for Sasuke. The pink girl spent more time in front of the mirror than Ino did!

Gawd did this girl think of anything besides Sasuke? Sakura needed to get over Sasuke.

Sakura was still peeved over the incident at lunch. The girl had been in a reverie all lunch, acting unfriendly to everyone who sat at the table. As well Sakura had been glaring at poor Hinata all lunch. At the rate Sakura was acting she wasn't going to make any friends at all.

It was draining competing with Sakura over Sasuke and still be under the pretense that she still liked him. Perhaps Ino shouldn't have had glomped Sasuke in front of everyone. She admitted to Sakura that it did cause unnecessary attention to them, But she bet Sakura had been envious and wanted to glomp Prince Sasuke herself. Ino took chances, unlike Sakura who had to do everything by the book. If she really wanted Sasuke, Ino would have taken him by now.

It was evident when Sakura's eyes went all sparkly over Sasuke that she still had feelings toward him. The dark haired teen had to know the truth about Sakura's feelings. Sakura should know by now that Sasuke wasn't going to somehow magically have romantic feelings for her.

"Stop that." A deep voice said beside her.

"_What?_" Ino snapped at the male voice, turning her head. The person who spoke to her stood straight up from the water fountain he was drinking from. He was much taller than she thought and far better looking. He had very elegant features for a boy. The person had long black hair that was loosely tied and similar grey eyes to a timid girl that Ino was acquainted with. He was radiating arrogance and had this smug attitude.

Ino immediately didn't like him.

The snob that Ino assumed he was gave her a withering glare. "Stop tapping your foot."

"What makes you think I'm going to take orders from you?" Ino demanded. She placed her hands on her hips. He was scary... Her heart rate accelerated. She could hear her heart beating so loudly.

"I'm telling you to."

"Not a good enough reason for me."

He was standing way too close for Ino's comfort. But Ino wouldn't show how uncomfortable she was. She was far too stubborn. Grey eyes bore into her cobalt orbs. She moved herself closer to him, an attempt to appear intimidating, hoping he would be the one to budge.

"I thought your minuscule blond brain couldn't comprehend my words."

_He insulted blonds! No one insults my hair colour. _

"Neji!" a girl's voice called from the corner.

The teen, which was standing too close to her, turned his head. His shoulders brushed against hers. "What is it Tenten?"

_Hell._

Blue eyes widened in fear.

The contact he made with her had initiated the transformation. The air was filled with lavender smoke.

-

**P O O F!**

-

In a second, Ino had changed into her stupid animal form, the boar.

Panicking, she used her little hooves to grab her fallen clothes. She slid her clothes and shoes across the cold floor, and scrambled herself to push open the nearest door and entered the room. She couldn't see far from the clouds of smoke were covering her escape route.

The boar's little heart pounded from the massive fear she felt from almost exposing her secret. Geez Ino felt like a moron. This was why they were supposed to be going to a all girls' school.

Her eyes detected another presence in the classroom she happened to stumble upon. She immediately recognized the charka signature. "Kiba?"

The canine boy was seated at a desk, madly scribbling away in a notebook. He looked up from the sound of his name. It took him a moment before his eyes registered the boar perched in front of him. "yeah? _Ino?!_" he frowned at her.

"Who else would it be?" she hysterically screeched. Ino was not in the mood for Kiba's stupidity.

He gave her a wolfish grin, "Hey! It's a perfectly reasonable question. You never know there could be real talking pigs. So what happened to you?"

"You are on crack. I'm a boar not a pig. Geez, I got into this argument with this asshole. I hate that guy." Ino turned her snort in the air, in disgust. If she was human, she would have wrinkled her nose in disgust. She couldn't relax yet to transform back into a human.

"Pick up my clothes for me. I don't have opposable thumbs at the moment. I've probably ruined my white shirt from dragging it on the dirty floor..."

"Sure Miss Piggy." Kiba said rolling his eyes and he got up to retrieve her clothes. His crimson eyes gleamed as he gingerly picked up a particular garment. A red lacey bra. "Nice underwear. You do know what the colour red represents, right?"

"Shut up!" Kiba was so immature.

"Just unwind and you'll change back." He held his hands out and dropped all her clothes on the teacher's desk. "I've accidentally transformed plenty of times at school. It's not a big deal. No one has seen me. I mean you're a pig. It's not like you're Sasuke and you can transform into a tiger. If you were a tiger there would be a school panic over him whereas you're just a harmless piggy!"

She rolled her eyes. "Kiba you're not very helpful and I'M NOT A PIG! I am a _boar_, big difference."

Forcing herself to stand still she counted to ten. Blah! She was getting no where with trying to calm down. Ino needed a distraction.

Ino glanced over at kiba again. He had returned to scribbling his notebook. Was he doing schoolwork? "So at lunch today, you were hanging around Naruto and Sasuke. What's up with that?"

"Nothing. That freak can go to hell." Kiba resentfully said. Kiba harbored feelings of disgust for Naruto since they were small children. And those feelings would never change. "The only reason I even pretend to be civil to Naruto is for Hinata's sake. I dunno why but she likes him. And Naruto drags Sasuke to come eat at our table... it's not like I can protest to her about it. I'll agree to whatever she wants."

She could hear the tone in Kiba's voice as he talked about her. _Aww...it's so cute! _

"you're whipped."

"No." he scoffed.

"yeah you are."

"no I'm _so_ not."

Ino felt her whole body tingle. Finally she changed back.

-

**P O O F !**

-

"that feels better!" Ino cheerfully said, stretching in her human form. Oops, she nearly forgot she was naked. The blond girl turned her head to Kiba who wasn't looking in her direction. Good thing he wasn't checking her out.

Ino had known all the zodiac members since she was a baby and was fully able to grasp the face she was possessed by a vengeful sprit. Kiba was guy, yes; however he was desensitized by her body. He had seen her (accidentally and coincidently) naked so many times and vice versa that they were surprisingly mature in front of each other. Though it wasn't the same as the other boys in the zodiac.

"Need any help dressing?" Kiba snidely asked her, looking up.

"No you're not the one I want help from." she dryly replied as she pulled her black pants on her hips. She struggled to undo the clasp of her bra. Uggh, stupid complicated clasp!

"Oww. That hurts. Well-" Kiba began then he suddenly paused.

A jingle came from the classroom door. Shit.

"Kiba are you still-" the brown haired girl asked as she barged in, another person stood behind the her.

Her mouth gaped open as her eyes met silver orbs. Coming to her senses, Ino quickly covered her chest with her hands and twisted her head away. Her cheeks became pink. _Double shit. _

"Oops, sorry about that! Uhh Kiba find me in gym A and be safe!" the girl apologized and Ino heard the door slam shut.

"It's not what you think Tenten! TENTEN!" Kiba with a horrified expression upon his face yelled at her though the closed door. Ino and Kiba exchanged looks. "Aww man... she thinks we had sex in the classroom!"

Ino flopped down on the linoleum tiles. It was day one and she wasn't making a very good impression. _Of the whole entire school population to barge in that door, why the hell does it have to be _him_? _

* * *

"That was weird." Tenten stated. Neji and Tenten had swiftly exited the classroom where that girl and dogboy were doing _something_.

"Obviously," he coolly remarked. Inside, he was somewhat confused. But he would never show it to Tenten. Neji had never expected to see her again in half an hour, and half naked. He wasn't expecting to see that much and he really did not want to see that much.

"I didn't think Ino and Kiba were _that_ friendly. I feel traumatized." Tenten dramatically announced while shaking her head. "Let's go to the gym where I said I was going to meet Kiba."

He gave her a look. "That girl's name was Ino? How do you know that bitch?"

Tenten paused and cocked her head in his direction. "Harsh language Neji. You know her?"

"We've become acquainted." He raised a brow for her to continue. There was no need to tell her that beforehand he got into an argument with that girl.

"We met today at lunch. She and another girl named Sakura- the pink haired girl- transferred here from that all girls school across town. She's ... err a sociable girl. Did you see Ino glomp the Prince?" the brown haired girl told him, smiling a bit. He was getting annoyed over Tenten's reference to Sasuke as the Prince.

"Hm." He hadn't been in the lunchroom today. " She's a slut and in addition to that she's another Sasuke fangirl."

He didn't find it presumptuous to see a girl like her jump someone. Neji figured the annoying blond girl was one of the prettyboy's cheerleaders. She certainly fit the part.

Tenten slapped him on the arm. There was a flash in her eyes that told him that she was going to scold him again. "Stop judging people Neji. You don't even know her. Besides, I think Sakura and Ino knew The Prince and Naruto from before."

"You're right. And I don't want to get to know her."

After the Ino girl disappeared when the mysterious smoke came, Tenten had found him. He hadn't spoken to her for a few days now. It was getting to the point of being ridiculous. They had another practice for the club the next day and she had to speak to him eventually. She needed to cool down; he had only spoken the truth about Hinata. Hinata, the weak little princess. Tenten and he were never going to have the same opinion concerning Hinata. Neji certainty could not appease her. There were too many differences between Hinata and himself for anything to change in their situation.

Tenten sighed crossing her arms. Neji gave a smirk. "Hinata's still living with Sasuke and Naruto correct?"

Neji's uncle had called him to his office and to his surprise Hinata was sitting there. Hiashi left the room for a few moments which he explained to Hinata to give Neji the details of her living situation. Neji questioned why he was even in the office in the meeting with Hinata and his uncle. Hinata had told Hiashi that she would return in the evening with the belongings she left at Sasuke's uncle's place. However, she didn't return in the evening and he assumed that she had changed her mind. That didn't work with Hiashi's future plans for her and the others. Yet Hiashi would allow her to continuing living there if only until Christmas Day.

"H-how did you know?" she stammered for a moment, surpised that Neji knew about Hinata's current living situation.

"She came by the Hyuuga Compound to speak with her father. And I had to talk to her."

"Yes, she is. It makes sense now that she was walking with Sasuke and Naruto to school. I glad she's not living with her real family." Tenten said. Surprised, Neji raised a brow. "She's different since she spent some time away from her family. No offense to your family or anything. I can't explain it. She just is."

"No offense taken. But it seems like the same girl to me." He dryly responded.

Neji pushed open the gym doors. There was supposed to be a scheduled practice for the team, but the girl's volleyball team had declared an emergency necessary for them to practice. Unfortunately, their own practice had been cancelled.

Both of them seated themselves on the bleachers to watch the pathetic girls play a game.

The brown haired girl carefully eyed him. "So are you okay with Hinata living with Prince Sasuke and Naruto?"

"It doesn't matter where she is; I'm supposed to watch out for her during the school day."

Tenten was unfazed by his cold reply. "fine."

By now she was use to his feelings towards his cousin. She quickly changed the subject.

"Well, anyways, I found something very interesting when I visited Prince Sasuke's house. oh yeah his uncle is some masked weirdo. Sasuke has a pet fox. Hahaha. He named the animal _Kubey_..."

"Kubey...?"

"Yeah, Kubey. Who knew Sasuke was so cute."

What was wrong with Tenten? Outwardly, he had a face of indifference. "Cute?"

"You should have seen his pet. It was the most adorable fox I have ever seen! Who would have thunk it that Sasuke had a soft side. Seeing his pet has ruined the image I had for him."

"Never knew you cared so much for Uchiha. If I didn't know better, I would have thought you were one of his annoying fangirls." Neji wasn't use to seeing this gushy version Tenten. He preferred the calm and collected girl that he respected. Very peculiar, "I'm pretty sure there's more to him than you know."

_There's more to Sasuke and Naruto than Hinata most likely knows about. There was greater reason for Hiashi allowing Hinata to live there._

"Probably," Tenten mused. "I can always ask Hinata for dirt on Sasuke and Naruto. She is living with them now. I dunno why, but Naruto is such an easy target to pick on. He gets so offended."

She gave him a wicked smile that even sent shivers down his spine.

"You're scary sometimes." He murmured.

**BAM!**

Dogboy ran in the gym. "Tenten!" he frantically called and climbed up the bleachers to sit beside her. The girl that was supposed to be serving missed her shot. Kiba really was obnoxious sometimes and he had to wonder how in the world Tenten was friends with him. Didn't he see there was a game happening? "It's not what you think!"

Tenten laughed and shared a look with Neji. "I don't want to know what happened with you and Ino."

"But--"

"No details, Kiba! I'm trying to erase the memories from my mind! Just don't do it again at school!" she put her hand in front of his face to try to shut him up. She was not succeeding.

"Tenten! It's all-"

"Don't make me hurt you! **No** details."

"Fine! I wasn't doing anything with her." Kiba fumed. The boy childishly crossed his arms over his chest, pouting.

"Ahuh." Tenten replied and grabbed his Kiba's arm. Tenten gave Neji a grin before waving to him. "Got to go now, Neji. See ya tomorrow."

"Bye." Neji said to her. He watched them head towards the exit of the gym.

If Tenten wasn't here and the club had no meeting, then what was _he_ still doing at school? Neji should have been returning to the Hyuuga Compound. He exited the gym and was about to leave the school building.

* * *

Neji narrowed his grey eyes as he spotted the blond boy and Hinata strolling together in the school's courtyard. They were beginning to get a little too close. Hinata shyly laughed at what the blond said.

They stopped laughing when they saw him.

Neji had to speak with her again. He raised his arm, a gesture for Hinata to walk towards to him.

Hinata began to walk towards him, but Naruto called Hinata back. The heir spoke too quietly for Neji to hear their conversation.

"Tch." Who was Naruto kidding? Neji sneered at him as Naruto shot Neji a look and finally left her alone. The blond was no threat to him.

"H-hello."

"So you made your choice." Neji wanted to get this chat over with as soon as possible. He went straight to the point to get confirmation from her.

"Yes I did." Hinata quietly murmured. She finally made eye contact with him and turned red.

"You seen several times walking with Uchiha and Naruto. You know they're only going to cause you trouble. And Naruto is not worth your time."

"N-Neji..." Hinata's voice wavered for a second. Neji raised an eyebrow, anticipating her next words. She took a moment to exhale. "You are supposed to be watching over me, but I don't believe you are supposed to dictate who I can or cannot be friends with."

It took him a moment to digest what Hinata was telling him. Neji must have looked like an idiot with his mouth wide open.

Neji had always been her bodyguard. Her watcher. She was the timid little princess, who ordered his uncle's orders obediently. Amazing Tenten had been right. There was something different about Hinata. The girl had changed. And he wasn't sure it was such a good thing.

She gave him a small smile. "tell my father that I will come home on Christmas Day and I will not disgrace the Hyuuga name." Hinata nodded to Neji and turned away to walk back to Naruto's side

He always thought she was weak, perhaps he was wrong. She was still standing in front of him no longer trembling.

**

* * *

**

**Thank you to all those who reviewed chapter seven. **

**Any suggestions for the next chapter are welcome. **

Review!

Anywayz later :D


	9. Chances

Year of the Rat (2008)

WOW it's been a long time since I updated. I blame this chappie.

Pairing Sasuhina and Naruhina

It's never going to be SasuSaku, trust me

* * *

**T h e – A n i m a l – H o u s e**

Chapter Nine

Chances 

_Sasuke and Sakura are looking for Ino after she disappears and meets Neji for the first time. _

_It continues right from the last chapter. _

O0o0

Sasuke wondered why he was walking around the school grounds with Sakura of all people. How did he always end up in situations like this?

"I can't find Ino!" Sakura had told him ten minutes ago. And yet somehow in the grand school she was able to find him and not Ino. Sasuke was rather tired of her impressions of acting like a damsel in distress. In order to placate her, he was forced to help her.

Sighing, he silently accompanied her to find Ino. Hence, he had to show her around the school grounds. They managed to find their way to the front of the school steps. Sasuke ignored the fact that Sakura had linked her fingers with his, there was no point in pulling away from her, she would still be persistent. He was aware of her blatant crush on him and he wondered when she would finally give up on her feelings.

She gave him a tender look. "I know you're angry that Ino and I came here."

_That's obvious._

The embarrassment and shock of Ino jumping on his back had unsettled him. He hated drawing attention to himself. School was supposed to let him unwind and not mull over his status as a member of the zodiac. It was irritating enough with Naruto around, and now there was Ino and Sakura to consider. He was going to be paranoid not only about his fan girls jumping him, but Ino randomly attacking him while he was at school.

Sakura stopped him on the steps of the front entrance. Her green eyes were begging for him to understand, "Orochimaru offered us a chance to be here and we accepted it. I mean, before he would restrict our contact with anyone that wasn't aware of the secret. He has allowed us the chance to fit in-"

He couldn't hear her talk about Orochimaru giving chances to people. _Sakura shouldn't be so naïve about that man, there is __always__ a secondary motive with him. _Sasuke closed his eyes; he had to remember that it wasn't her fault that she was still in the dark about certain matters concerning her. His memories resurfaced of a time where he had, in a desperate attempt, gone to Orochimaru for authority over a certain matter. He didn't want to relive the moments where he had willingly gone to Orochimaru for help.

Today Sasuke could not stop being outraged at Sakura. He couldn't help but explode at her, "You know that this isn't the time to talk about this crap. That bastard doesn't do you any favors_, _he's the fucking devil and he wants something in return!"

And there Sasuke saw something in her jade eyes. Sakura blinked too quickly, and turned away from him. _What did she do?_ "But he-" she began and stopped talking. He followed the movement of her eyes.

He twisted his head to her direction and Sasuke's dark eyes widened. Instantly, he recognized the car driving to the school's front entrance. It parked right in front of them. Windows were tinted; however, the driver's seat was visible enough that he could make out Kabuto. That meant...

The rear door opened and Asuma Sarutobi 's head poked though the door. The bearded doctor slowly led the powerful man out of the car. The older man had to be supported by Asuma to even stand straight. Gradually they moved to be in front of Sasuke and Sakura.

"Hello my dear Sasuke," Orochimaru greeted him. His low raspy voice sent involuntary shivers down Sasuke's back. Sasuke would be fine if he didn't make eye contact with him. Or the man would see how to a great extent he truly feared him. "It is a delight to see you again Sakura. I came to your new school today to see how Ino and you were adjusting. Though it seems that Ino is not present at the moment…"

"Orochimaru." Sasuke managed to speak despite feeling faint. He couldn't breathe; it felt as if Orochimaru was sucking all the oxygen from his lungs. He clutched Sakura's hand a little tighter. "Hello Asuma."

"Hello sir. Ino and I are doing quite fine, thank you for asking." Sakura replied in a pleasant tone. She gave Sasuke a quick look that he ignored. His mind was racing about his thoughts of his childhood...

Asuma nodded his head at the others in acknowledgement. Sasuke knew that Asuma had to remain devoted to the head of the Main House and as the Rat; he was the closest to Orochimaru. Asuma could not speak unless he was told he to, obedient to only the sickly Orochimaru. He was the man's personal doctor and delegate; Orochimaru was constantly ill and Asuma was forced to attend to him nearly everyday.

Suddenly, the head of the Main House had moved closer to Sasuke. "I'm not feeling well. Why haven't you visited me Sasuke?! I need everyone to be with me."

Sasuke's head was suddenly forcibly jerked to look at him. Malicious canary eyes... He flinched in horror. Orochimaru had lunged to grip Sasuke's neck in a loose chokehold. Regardless of fact the sickly man was shorter than him, he had a fantastic strength. He always did.

Sasuke's hand had let go of Sakura's. Orochimaru nails dug into Sasuke's skin and his grip tightened.

"What have you been up to, my dear boy?"

"I have been busy." Sasuke strained to speak and he swallowed to catch his breath. He was panicking against a man he could not fight. However, his pride would not allow himself to plead for Orochimaru to release him.

"Busy with that houseguest of Kakashi's? _Hinata Hyuuga__- cough cough. You're getting awfully close to her, I wonder what you have told her about us..._" He managed to hiss at Sasuke before the Head of the Main House started to uncontrollably cough in a violent manner.

His eyes widened. How the hell did he find out about her? The man released his grip on Sasuke to cover his own mouth. The sound of his coughing hurt Sasuke's ears.

Finally Asuma spoke, placing a hand on Orochimaru's back. "Sir, I think we need to take you back to the main house. The cold isn't helping your cough," Asuma advised him, back to doing his job as doctor to Orochimaru.

"Fine, _cough_ I hope to _cough_ see you two soon. Especially you Sasuke." Orochimaru calmly said. His demeanor had rapidly changed again. Asuma and he went back into the vehicle and they drove off.

Until he stopped staring at the departing car, he didn't realize how much he was trembling or how fast his heart was beating.

"Are you okay?" Sakura quietly asked him.

His hand found hers again and he wrapped her in a hug. He couldn't stop shaking. "No. Please just stand here for a minute."

Sasuke felt ill.

* * *

Afterschool, Hinata and Naruto were walking around inside the school grounds, they were waiting for Sasuke to come after club meetings. Since Kakashi's threat about locking them all out unless the three returned to the house together, they continued to arrive together.

Subsequent to her brief talk with Neji, Hinata was feeling relieved. It was as if a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She had finally been able to speak to Neji sincerely about her feelings.

She had found a small group of people despite only knowing them for a few weeks depended on her for something, even if it was something frivolous as cooking them a meal or tidying up for them. In the Hyuuga household, she was not to do housework that was assigned to people of lower class, and her only achievements were her mundane marks she received from school. Those that surrounded her in the Hyuuga Household were only superficially nice to her due to her father's influence on others and her position in the family. She had been told by so many people that she was useless. The only ones she had support from were her friends, Tenten, Kiba and Shino and they were already ferociously independent. It was nice to be needed.

However, something was troubling her from what her cousin said. As if Neji knew something about Naruto and Sasuke's history. Hinata was supposed to be careful of them… except for what reason?

Hinata and Naruto unexpectedly paused in front of the school's main entrance. Hinata had felt a bit uneasy being alone with the bright friendly blonde. They usually had Sasuke silently accompanying them on their walks to school or back to Kakashi's house. But that discomfort disappeared as he was very talkative and energetic, and mentioned all the events that occurred today. Naruto was similar to Kiba in that way, that he had managed to get her to loosen up. Hinata managed to reply back to him a few times.

"S-so, aren't you glad that Sakura and Ino are here? That's five members of the zodiac here now." Hinata commented, in her effort to strike up a conversation. It was going to be much _more interesting_ at school with those two.

Naruto's focus was on kicking a ball of paper near the garbage can before he distantly replied, "I guess I'm glad... I really don't spend much time with the others. I mean, we never hung out and that time at Kakashi's doesn't count since Ino and Sakura were really there to see their _precious Sasuke_. I'm the fox- the trickster. They'd rather gaze at Sasuke for hours than hang out with me."

Hinata bit her lip and sharply looked at him. Although his eyes were cast downwards, with the simplicity of his words it seemed as if he lost that spark in his blue eyes. She opened her mouth, but there was nothing she could think to say to comfort him.

"Look there's Sakura and Sasuke now." Naruto suddenly said.

Hinata glanced out the glass door and saw Sasuke and Sakura outside, though she didn't possess the courage to disrupt their private conversation. Sakura didn't like her, which was made very clear. The pink haired girl had glared at her several times throughout the lunch period. Sasuke was tolerating her at the present moment. That was an improvement to their 'temperamental friendship'. And it was vice versa for Hinata's temperamental feelings for Sasuke.

Naruto and Hinata silently watched as a car drove right to the other pair. And out stepped a sickly man that had to be assisted to walk by a tall man with a beard.

"Who is that talking to Sasuke?" Hinata asked Naruto who had suddenly froze. She could feel it in the air, there was something wrong...

"..._Orochimaru_...why is he here?" he said in a barely audible whisper. Naruto's body had tensed when the newcomers approached Sasuke and Sakura.

The frail man immediately caught her attention. His pale complexion made it appear that he needed to go to a hospital. His long black hair hung limply on his head and his yellow eyes were very peculiar- even at the far distance they stood, she could still see the vivid colour of his eyes. Hinata couldn't keep her eyes off of the sickly man.

She got the impression that Sakura and Sasuke weren't happy with the situation. Hinata gave a slight gasp as the older man grabbed Sasuke's neck. He was shouting something to Sasuke and Sasuke just stood there helplessly. Hinata immediately reached over to push open the door.

"What are you _doing!_?" Naruto harshly asked her, his hand quickly blocking the door. It effectively stopped her. "It's none of your business what's happening outside!"

"I-I..." what _was_ she going to do? What could she do? The course of action to take when she actually went outside never crossed her mind. Her shoulders drooped, showing her resignation. "You're right. It is none of my business," Hinata quietly responded.

Naruto was standing far too close to her; she was close enough to brush against his shoulders and have him transform in the school. His breathing had gotten louder and it was distressing. Her eyes were drawn to the silver band bracelet on Naruto's hand once again. A beautiful bracelet. There was an indescribable presence regarding the bracelet. He saw her eyes looking at it and he quickly moved his hand away from the door.

"Trust me, don't get involved with what's happening outside. Let Sakura or Asuma handle it."

The concern she had was that Sakura and that bearded man _weren't_ doing anything to stop it...

Hinata whipped her head to the turmoil occurring outside. She could have sworn she heard her name being shouted by Orichimaru.

Naruto suddenly grabbed her hand. Naruto's tone spoke of urgency, "we need to go!"

Although she unsure about leaving Sasuke alone, she followed him.

Hinata hoped someone could give her answers about that man...

* * *

Naruto and Hinata arrived at Kakashi's place at five. They had spent the remainder of the afternoon in silence watching the girl's volleyball team practice. It was the safest place for them to be- a crowded area away from that man. Naruto could not calm down over Orochimaru coming to the school... he was grateful that Hinata hadn't asked him any further questions about had happened.

First, Naruto had been shocked by Ino and Sakura transferring to Konoha Private Academy. Sakura and Naruto didn't exactly have the best relationship... one part of him was in love with her and the other part wanted to forget about the pink haired girl. For all the years he had known her, Sakura either ignored him half the time or was beating him up when he said something stupid. They couldn't stop this cycle of infuriating the other. Especially when they had fought several months before. Those fights had left him feeling angry and raw. He was uncertain about how he felt about her now and what was between them: friendship or hate?

With his superior hearing, he had accidentally eavesdropped on the conversation. Orochimaru had found out about Hinata living with them! Orochimaru didn't want Hinata there if Sasuke wasn't spending enough time with the head of the main house. Before Orochimaru's visit, Naruto had never considered the consequences of befriending Hinata and having her stay at Kakashi's house. And now Naruto was fearful of the consequences of Hinata involvement with the zodiac members.

He felt bad for treating her harshly; Hinata was a nice person who really didn't deserve to be involved in this mess. He grimaced when he thought back to the way he reacted to Orochimaru in front of her; his behaviour was deplorable. However, Naruto couldn't possibly tell her the dark truth about the zodiac members.

Naruto was positive that Sasuke could handle Orocihmaru's assault. Sasuke was strong, and was Orochimaru's favorite in the 'collection,' as that man liked to call them. He simply couldn't stay there any longer. Orochimaru made him sick to his stomach and brought out the inner demon within Naruto. The bracelet on his hand was itching...

Naruto and Hinata opened the front door to find Kakashi there. "Oh welcome back you two," Kakashi greeted them at the front door. "We decided on Chinese takeout since none of us helpless men here could cook."

"Hello Mr. Kakashi."

The blond boy looked surprised. "Sasuke's back?" Naruto asked him as he dropped his school bag on the floor. Hinata paused to nod her head at the both of them and quietly headed upstairs.

"He came back nearly an hour ago with Sakura and Ino. I was amazed to find him without you two. I hope you had an enjoyable walk together." Naruto's left eye twitched. Why was Kakashi always implying something about Hinata, when she was alone with him or Sasuke?

O0o0o0

He strolled over to Kakashi's open office door to see the man dial a number on his cell phone. Naruto sat down on the carpet waiting for him to be done talking. There was something of the puzzle he didn't understand, and needed Kakashi to explain it to him.

"Hey!" Kakashi greeted the other person on the line, faking a perky voice. Naruto shuddered. It was somewhat unsettling for Naruto to hear. "How are you?"

Naruto could clearly see a smirk on the man's face behind the mask. "Oh_ nothing_. I just wanted to call an old friend and catch up, you know... and I may have a tiny little favor I want to ask of you."

Kakashi made a hand motion to Naruto to go away and Naruto begrudgingly got up. He rolled his eyes at the lazy man and his bad timing.

There was something Kakashi was planning.

The older man covered the mouthpiece of the phone. "I know you have something to ask me. Sasuke came by too. Don't worry, I'll explain myself soon enough."

* * *

It was a slow chapter so I'll speed things up next time. I'm sorry that it took so long for it to come out, I used to update monthly (like in 2oo6) but I doubt I'll have the time again to update so soon. So I hope everyone continues reading this fic and please **review** because I need comments and criticism. _And I need to know if anyone is still reading this story! _

anywayz later : )

Also **Orochimaru is a guy, not a cross-dresser and he has no pairing!**

**Coming soon is my Ino spinoff from The AnimalHouse! End of May check it out!!**


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